The End of The SWAT Kats!
by Bill Hiers
Summary: While the SWAT Kats are out fighting Hard Drive, junkyard cats Burke and Murray make an interesting discovery. Finally in the lengthy process of being continued. I apologize for the long wait, folks.
1. Discovery

"This is Ann Gora, Kat's Eye News, coming to you live from the site of the Megakat City Main Power Grid!" the voice said.  
  
Murray, half-asleep slouched in a shabby office chair, opened his eyes and yawned, stretching. The mini-TV in his lap rocked gently as he did so, but he managed to get it steady again. The female reporter on the screen continued. "The notorious techno-crook known as Hard Drive has taken the building hostage, having overwhelmed all of the security guards. The Enforcers are just now arriving on the scene."  
  
Murray shifted, reaching into a white plastic cooler. He retrieved a can of beer, popped the top, and took a swig. He belched loudly. On the TV screen, behind Ann Gora, he could see Enforcer cruisers and tanks arriving. Suddenly, a figure appeared on the roof of the building, and launched a volley of yellow electrical bolts down on the Enforcer vehicles.  
  
"Hard Drive is attacking the Enforcers!" Ann went on, ducking down, the view becoming wobbly as her camerakat did the same.  
  
"Duh," Murray said, letting loose another belch. Another swig from the beer was taken. Onscreen, the Enforcer vehicles that were hit exploded in showers of sparks and molten metal, the gathered Enforcer commandos ducking and running. A few managed to leap from the tanks before they exploded.  
  
Obviously, Murray thought, this Hard Drive character had amped-up his powers since his last appearance the previous year, when he tried to rob the Megakat Mint high-speed railway. Murray had caught that on the news, too, and the whole thing amused him. The short kat watched the Kat's Eye News coverages of various villain attacks with all the attention he would give a fictional action show.  
  
"Things look bad for Megakat City, if only-" Ann stopped, and looked offscreen. The sound of jet engines approaching could be heard faintly. "It's the SWAT Kats!"  
  
Murray's eyes lit up. "Yeah, now we're talkin'!" he said.  
  
Things always got going when the SWAT Kats arrived. Murray looked forward to seeing them pummel the tar out of yet another villain. He loved nothing more than seeing such chaos and destruction on TV. But, just as the SWAT Kats' sleek black fighter jet, the Turbokat, flew into view, a voice from outside interrupted Murray's TV time.  
  
"Murray! Hey, Murray!" It was Burke. "Where are ya?"  
  
"In here, Burke!" he yelled back.  
  
"Come out here I wanna talk to ya!"  
  
Murray growled, and shot back "I'm watchin' TV!"  
  
"It's important!" Burke returned.  
  
Sighing, Murray turned off the TV, just as a big explosion occurred. Whatever his big brother wanted had darn well better be important enough to make him miss what he considered quality programming. Setting the TV on the table beside him, Murray hopped out of the chair, tossing the empty beer can into the nearby trashcan.  
  
He stepped out of the small, two-room building that was the main salvage yard office. Unlike their wards, ex-Enforcer pilots-turned mechanics Chance Furlong and Jake Clawson, Burke and Murray didn't live at the yard. The two brothers worked there, however, and spent most of their time lounging in the office. They only ever went out for pizza or when Commander Feral sent them to collect scrap.  
  
"What is it?" Murray yawned, stretching some more. "It had better be important! I was watchin' the SWAT Kats fight that electric guy on the news!"  
  
Burke, his older, taller, fatter brother, was standing outside. "I can't find those two hotshots Furlong and Clawson."  
  
"So what?" Murray said.   
  
"So, they got a customer who's expectin' to get her car fixed," answered Burke. "And she means business!"  
  
Wondering what Burke was talking about, Murray followed his brother as they walked around one of the yard's many piles of junk. They approached the modest two-story brick building that was Jake and Chance's Garage. A blue four-door car was parked out in front, and standing next to it was a little old lady.  
  
"Well it's about time!" she said, her shrill voice carrying a hint of a Southern accent. "Where are those two young mechanics? I'm gonna complain to the Megakat Auto Club!"  
  
Murray blinked. "See?" said Burke.  
  
The old lady focused her hate-filled gaze on the brothers. "Can you two fix my car?"  
  
"Uh, sorry lady," said Murray. "But we're not mechanics.We just deliver scrap."  
  
Murray realized he'd said the wrong thing, when the seemingly harmless old woman, who was obviously cranky after waiting all day, didn't like that answer. With a growl, she brought her large purse down onto the smaller kat's head.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Hey, you old battle ax! Don't hit my brother like that!" Burke said.   
  
Before he could move to Murray's defense, the handbag came into contact with his left knee. Yelping, Burke clutched his leg and hopped up and down on his other foot. She then whacked Murray on the head again, his green baseball cap flying off. Ducking to avoid another blow, he retreated into the open garage. Burke opened his mouth to speak again, but this time he took a hit in his large stomach.  
  
"Jeez, lady!" said Murray from his hiding place behind Furlong and Clawson's tow truck. "Calm down!"  
  
"Calm down? Calm down?!" she snarled, whacking Burke a third time as he, too, ran for cover. "I'll calm down when I get some service!"  
  
"Well that ain't gonna happen until Furlong and Clawson get back!" Burke reasoned.  
  
"Who?" she said.  
  
"Uh, the mechanics, ma'am."  
  
"Oh." She huffed, then turned and walked to her car. "I'll be back at noon, and those two had better be here!" Getting into her car, she stepped on the gas and sped right out of the salvage yard like a professional race car driver, leaving Burke and Murray gasping and dumbfounded.  
  
"Holy kats!" Murray exclaimed after a minute or so. "What was her malfunction?!"  
  
"I dunno," said Burke. "But when I find those two slackers I'm gonna beat their faces in!"  
  
"Yeah," added the shorter kat. He walked back outside to pick up his baseball cap, then stopped, blinking. "Hey wait a second," he said, turning around. "The tow truck's still here!"  
  
Burke looked at the tow truck that Clawson and Furlong often drove about in, in addition to using it to actually tow cars. "Hey, you're right. Maybe they took the other car?"  
  
After picking up his cap and replacing it on his head, Murray went with Burke and they walked around to the back of the building, where the two-ex-fighter jocks usually parked their only other vehicle. To their shared surprise, however, the green four-door sedan was still sitting where it always did.   
  
"That certainly is strange," said Burke.  
  
"Where did they go if they didn't take either the tow truck or the car?" Murray wondered aloud as he and Burke walked back to the front of the garage.  
  
"I'll bet you anything they're inside watchin' TV or somethin'," said Burke.  
  
"Yeah, 'cause otherwise I can't see where they'd go by walkin', the only thing within walkin' distance is that oil refinery," added his brother.  
  
Balling up their fists, the two junkyard kats walked into the garage and went inside the living quarters through a side door. First, they spent a good few minutes calling Clawson and Furlong's names. When that got no results, they started to actually worry whether something had happened to the two. They split up and searched the place. Murray went upstairs, but found it deserted.  
  
"Hey, Murray!" Burke suddenly called.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Get down here!"  
  
Murray hurried back downstairs. He found Burke in what could obstensibly be considered the living room; there was a couch fashioned from the back seat of a car, a fridge, and a TV.  
  
"Ya find 'em?"  
  
Burke smacked Murray on the top of the head. "You chowderhead! Does it look like I found 'em?"  
  
"Well then why were you yellin'?!" Murray said, rubbing his head.  
  
"'Cause I found this."  
  
Burke knelt down and pulled back a ratty-looking rug, revealing what appeared to be a kathole cover or a hatch of some kind. Murray blinked.  
  
"It looks like a hatch."  
  
"I know," Burke replied. "What I don't know is what it's doin' in the middle of the floor here in their pad."  
  
Murray scratched his head under his cap, thinking. He suddenly snapped his fingers. "I know what it is!"  
  
"What?" asked Burke.  
  
"This place used to be a base or something like that back in Mega War II, and it had a big underground bunker and stuff like that," his brother said. Burke's eyebrows furrowed under his cap. "I used to ta' have the skematics of the place from the city hall of records, but I lost 'em."  
  
"So you're sayin' there's a whole underground complex under our feet that nobody's been down to in over fifty years?" There was wonderment in Burke's voice.  
  
"Yup," said Murray. "And I'll bet ya two cans of tuna that that's where those jerks Clawson and Furlong are hidin'!"  
  
"Yeah!" added his sibling. He opened the hatch, revealing darkness below. The brothers expected a musty, old smell, but surprisingly the air below smelled crisp and clean. "Huh," said Burke. "They must go down there alot."  
  
Murray nodded and leaned over, peering down into the blackness. "There's a ladder. I'm goin' down," he said, and then started down backwards. He paused to look up at Burke. "You stay here," he added. "You're too fat to fit!"  
  
Burke growled as Murray continued down, laughing. The shorter kat's feet came into contact with a concrete floor a few feet down and he stood there, squinting in the darkness. To his right, he spotted something.  
  
"I found a light switch!" he called up to Burke.  
  
"So turn it on, you idiot!" his brother shot back.  
  
Grumbling, Murray did so. The flourescant lights flashed alive, revealing to Murray something that made his eyes pop wide open and his jaw drop. He stood this way for several minutes, until Burke called down.  
  
"Hey, Murray, you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, Burke," he said. "You make yourself fit down here 'cause you have to see this to believe it."  
  
Burke compromised, leaning over and sticking his head in through the hole upside-down. His reaction mirrored Murray's.  
  
"Wow!" he cried.  
  
  
Commander Ulysses Feral grumbled to himself as he entered his office, removing his overcoat and throwing it at the coat rack, missing. The coat fell to the floor as he went to his desk, slumping into his office chair. He had been humiliated by the SWAT Kats....again. The Enforcers had been all but wiped out by Hard Drive in the battle at the Megakat City Main Power Grid. Although there were few casualties, the vehicle loss was incalculable as always.  
  
It was at this point in his thoughts that Sergeant Brady entered the room. He frowned, picking up Feral's coat and hanging it on the coat rack.  
  
"Sir?" he asked, approaching the desk. "Are you all right?"  
  
"No, I'm not all right!" Feral snapped, making the Sergeant jump. "Those annoying SWAT Kats do everything I can't, everything we can't! Sometimes I wonder if the city really even needs the Enforcers..."  
  
Brady looked at Feral like he was crazy, and the Commander sighed.  
  
"Sorry about that, Sergeant," he said. "The SWAT Kats have an uncanny knack for bringing out the worst in me."  
  
"It's okay, sir," said the Sergeant. "Anyway, I have an update on the situation involving Hard Drive. That is, if you're in the mood for it."  
  
Feral sighed, rubbing his temples. "Fine."  
  
Sergeant Brady cleared his throat. "The SWAT Kats were unable to capture Hard Drive just yet, and he is currently leading them on a chase through the entire city, with a few of our chopper units in pursuit."  
  
"Sounds like the usual scenario. Watch them pull some magic trick out of their hats and beat that annoying techno-weasel."  
  
Feral leaned back in his chair, then looked at Brady.  
  
"I'll say this for them, they come through. Though of course you'd never catch me saying that to their faces. I have my pride to think about. And someday, I'll catch them, and into prison they'll go! I know I've said that hundreds of times in the past, but I will do it someday!"  
  
Brady nodded absently. "Shall I get the aspirin, sir?"  
  
"Yes, please..." Feral said, feeling himself smile at how well the Sergeant knew him and his constant headaches.  
  
The Sergeant left the office, leaving Feral alone. He wondered to himself if he should really go through with these constant vows he had made to arrest the SWAT Kats, since they did help save the city all the time and had even saved him once or twice, in spite of their mutual hatred for one another.   
  
But then he shook away the doubts. When he had taken the job as Commander of the Enforcers, he had sworn an oath that he would rid Megakat City of any and all criminal element. And despite their constant heroics, the SWAT Kats were criminals. Vigilantism, taking the law in one's own paws, was illegal. It was his duty to arrest them and bring them to justice like any other criminal in the city, or so he kept telling himself day after day.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted as Sergeant Brady returned with a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. He nodded in thanks and popped two of the pills, swallowing them down with a quick gulp of the water.  
  
"One of these days I need to take a vacation," he said. "I pop these things like Tic-Tacs, for crying out loud. If I don't get some rest and relaxation soon the stress is going to kill me."  
  
"Well, your niece is capable of running the Enforcers in your absence," Brady ventured. "Perhaps she could take over for you while you vacation at Anakata Island, sir."  
  
Feral nodded, and drained the rest of the water, setting the empty glass on his desk along with the bottle of aspirin.   
  
"All right, that sounds like a plan, Sergeant," he replied. "But not just yet. I still have a week's worth of paperwork to do, not to mention detaining Hard Drive when the SWAT Kats finally catch him."  
  
He leaned back in his chair once more, folding his hands across his lap.  
  
"Well, I'm hungry. Why don't you run out and get us some sub sandwiches?"  
  
Brady smiled. "Yes, sir."  
  
As the Sergeant turned and left the room again, Feral massaged his temples one last time and, praying the aspirin would work fast, began to start going over the aforementioned paperwork.   
  
Mere moments later, Sergeant Brady returned. "Commander," he said.  
  
"That was quick," Feral said jokingly. "What is it, Sergeant?"  
  
"Those two junkyard kats are here to see you," Brady replied.  
  
Feral arched a brow. "Burke and Murray?"  
  
The Sergeant nodded. "Yes, sir. They say it's urgent."  
  
"Very well," Feral said. "Send them in."  
  
Brady stepped aside, allowing the gruesome twosome that was Burke and Murray to enter the office. They had unusually sly smiles on their faces, and seemed to be very anxious about something.  
  
"Hiya, Commander," said Murray, grinning toothily.  
  
  
"You'll never stop me now, SWAT Kats!" Hard Drive cackled as he flung another bolt of electricity toward the vigilante duo. "With the power I absorbed from the main electrical grid, I'm badder than ever! Take your best shot!"  
  
T-Bone dove out of the way was the electricity hit the ground near his feet, landing on his shoulder and somersaulting behind a concrete divider. Razor was already hunkered down behind an abandoned car to his right.   
  
After a grueling chase through downtown, Hard Drive had chosen to situate himself in the middle of the Megakat Freeway, bringing traffic to a halt as the katizens abandoned their cars and ran away. T-Bone had to land the Turbokat several yards away in an empty field, and after twenty minutes, this was as close to Hard Drive as either of the SWAT Kats had gotten.  
  
"Razor!" T-Bone yelled over to his partner. "Got any ideas?"  
  
"You've asked me that five times already!" Razor shot back. "And no! I still can't think of anything. This guy's reached a whole new level of dangerousness."  
  
Giggling evilly, Hard Drive advanced towards his foes' hiding places, electricity sizzling all around his Surge Coat-clad form. "Come out, come out, where-ever you are, SWAT Kats! Hard Drive wants to play zap-the-heroes!"  
  
"Nah, we're too shy, besides we're already playing a game," said T-Bone. "It's hide-and-seek."  
  
"Aww, well then, let's play!" Hard Drive snarled.  
  
He lifted up his arm, firing bolts of electricity at the empty car Razor was hiding behind. The bolts hit the vehicle, shattering the glass and melting the metal. Razor jumped out from hiding and dashed over to where T-Bone was. Hard Drive noticed, but wasn't fast enough. His electrical bolts scorched the ground seconds after Razor was behind the divider with his partner.  
  
"You're fast, SWAT Kat," he hissed. "But sooner or later you're both going to slip up, and that's when you die!"  
  
He fired on the divider, sending chunks of concrete in all directions and blowing both SWAT Kats backwards several feet. Razor landed flat on his back, but T-Bone managed to land with his palms touching the ground and flipped back over right-side up and land on his feet. He looked at Razor, who didn't get up, and growled.  
  
"Why, you.."  
  
Amused, Hard Drive crossed his arms.  
  
"Impressive acrobatics, SWAT Kat," he said. "But I think that the game, as well as your pointless and annoying life, is over!"  
  
Once more Hard Drive lifted his arms, electricity sizzling on his fingertips, and T-Bone had nowhere to run. Suddenly, a volley of laser fire hit the ground near Hard Drive's feet, and he stopped and leapt aside to avoid being hit, yelping in surprise. T-Bone looked up in time to see a trio of Enforcer choppers hovering in the sky above the freeway, their side-mounted laser cannons blasting away at Hard Drive, he danced aside again and let fly another of his deadly bolts.  
  
The electricity struck the chopper, and T-Bone thought it must have hit the fuel tank, because instantly the chopper exploded in a huge fireball. The other two choppers veered left to avoid both the explosion and Hard Drive's electrical bolts, as flaming debris showered down onto the freeway.  
  
"Puny Enforcers," Hard Drive sneered. "You never learn, do you? Oh well, if the beating I gave you at the main power grid wasn't enough, then by all means let me give you some more!"  
  
As he prepared to fire again, T-Bone realized this was his chance. He brought up his Glovatrix.   
  
"Mini-Turboblades, fire!" he yelled.  
  
"Huh?" Hard Drive spun around. "What the-?!"  
  
The small blades flew from T-Bone's Glovatrix straight at Hard Drive, who tried to dodge, but they hit their intended target. He yelled as his Surge Coat was slashed, cutting wires and rupturing the battery cel. Almost immediately, the suit began to power down, the blue electrical aura around him vanished, his mohawk sagged, becoming a shaggy mop. He looked disbelieving at T-Bone as pupils appeared in his eyes once more.  
  
"No!" he wailed. "I was careless!"  
  
"And this time it's gonna cost you!" T-Bone snarled.  
  
Devoid of his powers, Hard Drive screamed and ran from the angry SWAT Kat. Before he could get very far, one of the two remaining Enforcer choppers touched down in front of him, and Lieutenant Felina Feral, flanked by a pair of brutish Enforcer commandos, hopped out, guns at the ready. Hard Drive skidded to a halt.  
  
"Got to get away!" he squealed.  
  
"Not this time, Hard Drive," Felina said. She leveled her gun at him.  
  
Eyes wide with fear, Hard Drive threw up his arms. "I give up!"  
  
"Cuff 'im," Felina said. The two Enforcer commandos came forward and slapped the cuffs onto Hard Drive.  
  
T-Bone, meanwhile, was kneeling beside the prone Razor. As the commandos led Hard Drive to a waiting Enforcer cruiser, Felina ran over to T-Bone's side, holstering her gun. T-Bone was checking Razor's pulse.  
  
"Is he okay?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, he's just unconscious," T-Bone replied. "That blast from Hard Drive messed him up good."  
  
He gently slapped Razor's cheeks, and the smaller SWAT Kat blinked awake slowly, and coughed, sitting up. T-Bone smiled and patted his partner on the back and helped him to stand up.  
  
"What happened?" he asked groggily.  
  
"Well, I'd say you got knocked out by a blast of electricity and I took down the bad guy, but I don't wanna bruise your ego, buddy," T-Bone chuckled.  
  
By now, a slew of reporters from Kat's Eye News, Inside Megakat City, and other newsgroups had arrived on the scene and were being held back by the many Enforcer commandos that had arrived. Cleanup crews were also on hand to clear away the debris so that the motorists could begin using the freeway once again. With all the commotion, the SWAT Kats seemed a bit uncomfortable.  
  
"Well, Lieutenant," said T-Bone. "We'd better be headin' home before they start asking us for autographs."  
  
Felina laughed. "All right, T-Bone, you two take care. And thanks for another job well done. Hard Drive's going away for a long time after this little stunt."  
  
Laughing, T-Bone and a still-somewhat groggy Razor slipped away between the abandoned cars and back to the field where they had left the Turbokat. Felina watched them get in, and a few moments later the jet was all powered up, rose into the sky, and took off. Then, returning to her duties, she walked back over to where her fellow Enforcers were still quite busy. One of the commandos approached and saluted, Felina returning the gesture.  
  
"Everything's under control, Lieutenant," he reported. "All that's left now is to clean up all this mess for those anxious motorists to use it again."  
  
Felina nodded. "All right, I'll go and report back to headquarters."  
  
The commando saluted and hurried off, while Felina walked back to her parked chopper and climbed back into the pilot's seat. flicking on the band, she brought the radio to her mouth.  
  
"Lieutenant Felina Feral to headquarters," she spoke into it.  
  
"Yes, Lieutenant," came the gravely voice of an Enforcer dispatcher.  
  
"Patch me through to my uncle's office," she said.  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but Commander Feral is not in at the moment," the dispatcher replied.  
  
Felina blinked. "Where is he?"  
  
"I don't know, but he and Sergeant Brady left here in quite a hurry about ten minutes ago with those two junkyard kats."  
  
"Burke and Murray?"  
  
"I dunno, maybe, I can't remember their names."  
  
"All right, thanks, dispatch," Felina said at length.  
  
"Any time, Lieutenant," the dispatcher replied, then he hung up.   
  
Felina did the same, and leaned back in her seat, thinking. Where had her uncle and the Sergeant gone in such a hurry without telling anyone where they were going? And with Burke and Murray of all people? 


	2. Five Minutes of Fame

Commander Feral stepped out of his personal cruiser, adjusting his overcoat. He had followed the two junkyard kats, Burke and Murray, in their dump truck as they had requested, and he now found himself standing in the city salvage yard. Sergeant Brady got out of the opposite side of the cruiser; Feral had opted to bring his Sergeant along just in case he needed backup.  
  
He watched as the huge, noisy truck ahead of them shut off its engine, Burke and Murray hopping out and gesturing excitedly. Feral and Brady crossed the yard to the where the brothers stood.  
  
"This had better be good," Feral said, pointing at Murray with his baton. He was slightly miffed that Burke and Murray had chosen not to tell him just what they were going to show him, and he found himself wondering why he'd even agreed to come along in the first place.  
  
"Don't worry, Commander," said Murray. "Trust me. This is worth your time. C'mon."  
  
The smaller kat led the way, Feral, Sergeant Brady, and the hulking Burke plodding after. The small group approached the front of the establishment known as Jake and Chance's Garage. He scoffed, remembering those two insolent toadies.  
  
"Aren't they-" Sergeant Brady began.  
  
"Yes," Feral politely cut him off. "The two hotshots who caused all that damage to headquarters years ago. I fired them and sent them to work off their debt here. And it looks like they've certainly been doing fair, opening their own business and all as opposed to just hauling junk like our guides here."  
  
Brady nodded as he and his superior officer followed Burke and Murray in through the garage, past the parked orange tow truck, and into the living area through a side door. Feral grimaced. The place wasn't unsanitary or anything, but it was still a mess. Empty milk cans everywhere, candy wrappers, and so forth.  
  
"If you brought me here to show me just what poor housekeepers Clawson and Furlong are, Murray, then I think I've seen enough."  
  
"Ooh," Murray said. "They're slobs, all right. But pretty slick at keeping some big secrets."  
  
"What kinds of secrets?" Feral asked, arching a brow.  
  
"Clawson and Furlong are, uh...well it's hard to explain. You'd better look for yourself, Commander," Burke said, and then he knelt down near where there was a ratty-looking rug on the floor. He pulled it back, revealing to Feral what looked like some sort of hatch. He suddenly felt proverbial butterflies in his stomach as Burke turned the handle, popping the hatch open.  
  
Feral stepped up to the hole and stared down into the darkness, then he turned back to Sergeant Brady. "Sergeant," he said. "Get some flashlights."  
  
"No need," said Murray, matter-of-factly. "There's a light switch down there."  
  
Feral nodded, handing Murray his baton, and, turning, he went into the hole and down the ladder backwards. He felt his boots scrape against concrete a little ways down and stepped away from the ladder. Sergeant Brady climbed down after him, and Feral waited until his subordinate had joined him before he located the light switch, just as Murray had promised, to his right.  
  
Flicking it on, Feral felt and practically heard his heart skip a beat, as he beheld a large chamber with cement walls, floor, and ceiling. The room was mostly empty save a couple of tables with various odds and ends that, from Feral's vantage point, couldn't readily be made out. Feral turned and went slowly down the short stairs to his left.  
  
"Look at this," he said as he saw that the wall next to him was covered in little skull-and-crossbones that had been stamped onto it. A stamp pad and inker, he noticed, sat on a small shelf nearby.  
  
"Looks like some kind of scorekeeping display," said Sergeant Brady as he started down the stairs after Feral.  
  
The Commander approached one of the tables, wanting to get a closer look at some of the items he'd spotted on them. He frowned as he picked up a glovelike device that looked as though it was made to slide over the wearer's forearm. Brady stepped up beside him, clearing his throat.  
  
"Uh, sir, is this place what I think it is?" he asked.  
  
"It's an old military bunker, of that I can be certain. Built in Mega War II as a refueling depot for ships. It's right on the river, practically. And I'd stake my job, no, I'd stake my reputation that this is the hideout of the SWAT Kats." Sergeant Brady's normally lidded, drowsy-looking eyes widened in surprise at Feral's words. Feral set down the device, which, if he remembered correctly, the SWAT Kats called a 'glovatrix,' and turned to Brady. "Sergeant, get up to the car and get on the horn to headquarters. I want a squad here on the double."  
  
"Yes, sir," the Sergeant replied. He turned and hurried back to the ladder, climbing up.  
  
Feral absently licked his lips, only to discover his mouth was dry. If this was what he thought it was... Turning, he spotted a set of lockers against the far wall. Etched onto the two doors were the names 'T-Bone' and 'Razor.' Feral grinned, happy for the first time today. In fact for the first time in a good, long while. There was no longer any doubt in his mind that he was standing in the lair of the SWAT Kats. "Finally," he said aloud to no one. "Those vigilante scum are going down."  
  
  
"Didja see it?" Burke asked excitedly as Sergeant Brady emerged from the hatch.  
  
"Yeah," said Brady. He quickly walked across the room and out through the garage, heading for Feral's parked cruiser. After standing there for a moment wondering why Feral didn't come up, Burke and Murray followed the Sergeant. He opened the door and climbed into the driver's seat, getting the radio going.  
  
"So, uh, this is big, right?" Murray asked.  
  
"Very," the Sergeant replied. Burke and Murray grinned at each other.  
  
"So, uh, what are you gonna do?" Burke asked.  
  
Brady sighed. "I'm calling in reinforcements to secure the area. And yes, that means we're going to detain the SWAT Kats."  
  
"Oh, boy! So, we'll go down in history as the guys who found the SWAT Kats' secret lair, huh?" gushed Murray.  
  
"You'll get mentioned. Now, beat it. The Enforcers will handle it from here. Your five minutes of fame are up."  
  
Growling, the brothers turned and stalked towards their truck as Brady contacted Enforcer Headquarters and requested immediate backup.  
  
  
Meanwhile, the Turbokat was in the process of flying across the bay toward the peninsula where the salvage yard was. In the pilot's seat, T-Bone yawned. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, thanks to indigestion caused by some particularly spicy pizza, and the day's lengthy battle with Hard Drive hadn't help make T-Bone any more awake. The adrenaline rush from the fighting was gone, and now T-Bone was ready to hit the hay.  
  
"When we get home, I'm going straight to bed, buddy," he said to his partner.  
  
"I told you not to eat spicy foods right before you go to sleep," Razor said. For the third time, too.  
  
"Yeah, yeah," T-Bone grumbled as he flew the jet over land now, circling around so that he could fly into the hangar. As he brought up the remote control that operated the tunnel's hidden door, he happened to glance down and was surprised to see an Enforcer cruiser parked in the yard. Burke and Murray's truck was there, too, driving out of the yard, but that was hardly surprising. After all, they worked at the salvage yard too. But what was an Enforcer cruiser doing there?  
  
"Hey, Razor," T-Bone said. "It's an Enforcer cruiser."  
  
"I see it," came the reply. After a moment, Razor said, "And it's not just any cruiser. It's a commander-issue staff car!"  
  
"What? Are you sure?"  
  
"No doubt about it, buddy," Razor said. "The blue-on-white color scheme's unmistakable."  
  
T-Bone studied the entire yard for a moment, and was relieved when he say no one. "Well," he said. "I don't see anybody down there who could spot us comin' in. I'm bringing her in."  
  
"Roger."  
  
T-Bone clicked the remote control, activating the tunnel door, and he flew the jet towards it as it slid open.  
  
  
Commander Feral was inspecting the lockers, a spare red and blue helmet in his hands, when he h and felt the turning of enormous gears nearby. He quickly put the helmet back into the locker and, in an unusual state of panic, hastily looked around for a hiding place. He found one behind a console of some kind, and none too soon as through the gigantic circular hole in the middle of the cavernous room, the Turbokat rose on a hydraulic platform. Feral peered around the corner of the console, and watched as the canopy of the Turbokat's cockpit, revealing T-Bone and Razor. He remained this way as the two SWAT Kats approached the lockers, T-Bone remarking about how he remembered closing his locker door before they left, and the two of them changed clothes, out of their pilot's uniforms and into the coveralls of garage mechanics.  
  
So, thought Feral, the SWAT Kats are Chance Furlong and Jake Clawson. How could he have been so stupid not to have made the connection before? Then again, the only time he had really spoken to Furlong and Clawson and stood face to face with them was the day he fired them for letting Dark Kat escape and destroying half of headquarters. Still, it made sense that the SWAT Kats, two highly skilled pilots, would be ex-Enforcers.  
  
He ducked back behind the console further as Furlong and Clawson walked across the room towards the ladder. It was all he could do to stop himself from jumping out and taking them by surprise, his heart pounding in his chest. Yes, Feral thought, today was turning out to be one of the best days of his life. 


	3. Chase

I apologize for that earlier crap about the "fake chapter." Here is the real third chapter. I was just annoyed with people demanding this story continue when I had no definitive conclusion to the plot in mind. Now that I do, though, I can continue the story for real!

"Pretty swell action today, huh, buddy?" Razor asked as he removed his flight helmet as he and T-Bone hopped down to the floor from the Turbokat.

"Yeah, I never get tired of putting that techno-freak Hard Drive in his place," T-Bone concurred, also removing his helmet.

He and Razor walked across the hangar to their lockers. They made it that before Feral leaped out at them from his hiding spot behind the console over by the far wall.

"Freeze!"

The deep voice cut T-Bone to the bone as surely as if he'd been stabbed. Despite everything, he and Razor found themselves with Commander Feral of the Enforcers standing in their secret hangar, aiming a laser pistol at them.

T-Bone, in the midst of grabbing the rubber stamp to add another "kill" mark to their Wall of Fame, dropped the stamp to the floor. Razor's jaw fell open and his helmet joined the stamp in hitting the floor. It rolled over Feral's feet and the Commander annoyedly kicked it away. A huge grin came over the big kat's face.

"I should've known!" he said, triumph etched into every word. "You two screwups! You were the SWAT Kats all along! The same two irresponsible hotshots I kicked out of the Enforcers years ago!"

"We, uh, we don't know what you're talkin' about, Feral!" Razor tried to bluff, grinning nervously.

Feral wasn't buying it. "Against the wall," he said. "Sergeant, come down here, I need your assistance in arresting two criminals!"

T-Bone acted without thinking. His helmet left his hands and flew across the room, hitting Feral's arm. He fired reflexively, the laser blast punching a hole in one of the locker doors. Razor's, T-Bone noted with some guilt. Even as Feral staggered back, T-Bone grabbed the surprised Razor's sleeve and was dragging him to the ladder. Suddenly he saw the feet of the descending feet of Sergeant Brady.

"Can't go that way!" T-Bone said and whirled back towards the Turbokat.

"Whoa!" yelped Razor who was pulled along with him. "T-Bone, wait a minute-!"

Feral grabbed his laser pistol and got up, firing off some warning shots above their heads. T-Bone again whirled and again poor Razor was jerked around with a small cry.

"Can't go that way, either!"

Back to the ladder where T-Bone grabbed Sergeant Brady's belt as he was halfway down and yanked, sending the husky Enforcer officer tumbling head over heels harmlessly to the floor. The Sergeant did a somersault and rolled into Feral, knocking them both down even as the SWAT Kats climbed up and into the garage.

Razor was trying to protest but T-Bone wouldn't let him. Ultimately he decided that even if he talked his partner into thinking rationally, Feral wasn't interested in their explanations. And he had an itchy trigger finger. Especially now that T-Bone bowled another Enforcer right into the big lug. So for the moment, Razor resolved to go along with whatever it was T-Bone was planning, and sort things out later once they'd escaped and things had calmed down.

Apparently T-Bone's plan involved driving, but the tow truck was a no go. In the heat of the moment, the truck's exit from the garage was blocked by the parked Enforcer sedan. The driver's side door was open, and, checking it, they found no keys. T-Bone's claws came out and he shredded the plastic beneath the steering wheel, digging wires out. In a couple of moments he had the Enforcer vehicle hotwired, the engine roaring.

Both SWAT Kats jumped in and T-Bone gunned it backwards, fishtailing the cruiser around just as Feral and the Sergeant emerged from below and came running out of the garage, laser pistols out. They fired at the escaping Enforcer car as it sped off across the scrapyard, narrowly avoiding the shocked Burke and Murray. T-Bone spun the wheel to avoid running the brothers over and still the pair had to jump aside into a junkpile. The rear bumper clipped a rusty engine block and then the cruiser shot out onto the country road that ran alongside the yard.

"T-Bone, may I ask what exactly we're doing?" Razor asked, hurriedly buckling in.

"Running, what's it look like?" T-Bone neglected to buckle is own seatbelt, gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles popped. A panic like he'd never felt gripped the burly kat.

"And then what?" the smaller kat asked. "Feral knows who we really are and it's not like we can exactly go back and deep-six both him AND the Sarge!"

"Says who?" T-Bone asked. A glare from Razor banished that thankfully only half-serious thought from his mind. T-Bone was willing to do a lot of things for his own survival, but as much as he detested Commander Feral, murder wasn't one of them. He drew the line at that. Still, he floored the pedal, with no other plan at the moment besides getting away.

"Anyway," he said, "we don't need to. We got a good head start on 'em and we got their car, too." He smirked.

The smirk was wiped from his face as a laser blast flew by, and in the sideview mirrors the two beheld the most unwelcome sight of their own tow truck following them. Brady was driving, Feral leaning out the passenger window, firing after them with his gun.

Razor shot T-Bone an annoyed look. "You left the keys in the ignition again, did you...?"

T-Bone offered a sheepish grin. "Uh, well, it's not like that thin can catch up to us in this baby. I mean, these Enforcer cruisers may be rolling dynamite factories but they sure can move. So unless Feral finds the you-know-what in the tow truck I doubt he's gonna catch us anytime soon."

Ahead, another cruiser sat parked on the roadside. In the driver's seat, Officer Jablonsky sat aiming a radar gun at passing vehicles. To his annoyance, they were all well below the speed limit. Beside him, Officer Lyman, his partner, was prattling on about Lieutenant Feral, the Commander's niece. Specifically, what type of underwear she wore.

"Bet it's a thong," Lyman said with a leer. His partner frowned and eyed him. "Come on, man! Tough she-kat like that's GOT to wear black lace and be into black leather and stuff!"

"That's the Commander's niece you're talking about," Jablonsky warned him. "If he ever heard you talking about Lieutenant Feral that way, he'd strangle you. And besides, anything he did to you would be merciful compared to what SHE would do if she found out."

"I'm tellin' ya, man, she digs me!" Lyman insisted.

Suddenly they heard the roar of an approaching motor and saw a command sedan go flying past doing 100 according to Jablonsky's radar gun.

"Yikes!" Jablonsky said. "That was the Commander's car!" The tow truck flew past, and the two could clearly glimpse Commander Feral in the passenger seat. "But that was the Commander! What's going on?"

Dropping the radar gun, Jablonsky started the cruiser up and pulled onto the road, headed off after the other two vehicles, while Lyman got in the radio and called in to Enforcer Headquarters.

In the tow truck, Feral fired off a couple more shots at his own car and slid back inside. "Can't thick hunk of junk go any faster?" he roared. "They're already pulling away from us! And in our own car!"

"Sorry, sir!" Sergeant Brady said. "This is the vehicle's maximum speed!"

"Blast it!" snarled Feral.

He angrily pounded the dashboard with his fist and suddenly a control panel popped up into view, previously hidden. He and Brady examined this and after a moment, Brady pushed one at random, and suddenly the two Enforcers were thrown backwards into their seat cushions as the tow truck flew forwards propelled by powerful rocket boosters.

This did not go unobserved by the escaping SWAT Kats, who braced themselves as the rocket-propelled tow truck flew up and rear-ended the Enforcer cruiser, crumpling the back end and knocking the already speeding car forward a ways.

"What the heck?" cried T-Bone. "Is Feral reading my mind or somethin'?"

"T-Bone, may I suggest we think this whole 'escape' thing through a little further...?" Razor said with a sigh.

As they neared the bridge which connected the little peninsula to Megakat City, the loud roar of rotor blades filled the air as three Enforcer choppers appeared overhead and began closing in. Glancing back, Razor could see the other cruiser in the distance behind the wildly speeding tow truck. Whipping his head around he could see still more Enforcer vehicles setting up a roadblock at the bridge entrance. It quickly occurred to him that they weren't going anywhere.

"T-Bone, we had a good run, but for the moment, we have to give ourselves up!" he told his partner.

T-Bone gritted his teeth in fury. But he realized Razor was right. They were trapped. Short of driving into the bay, there was no way out. The Enforcers were winning by sheer numbers, boxing them in from in front and from behind. Finally he squeezed his eyes shut and hit the brakes, spinning the wheel to the left suddenly. The Enforcer cruiser swung around sideways and skidded to a halt. Neither SWAT Kat resisted as the Enforcer commandos from the roadblock approached with laser rifles up and ordered their surrender.

As they were being hauled out of the car and put into handcuffs, the tow truck came flying up the road, out of control. Everyone turned and yelled in surprise. Sergeant Brady swung the wheel and the truck narrowly avoided hitting the kats gathered in the road, flying off the road, ramping off a small hill and finally splashing down noisily into the bay. It sank rapidly. A moment later, Commander Feral and Sergeant Brady broke the surface.

Two commandos each were left to hold onto T-Bone and Razor; the others ran and waded into the water to assist their floundering Commander. They were joined by Jablonsky and Lyman when they arrived finally. The commandos helped Feral ashore, Jablonsky and Lyman got Brady. Both were soaking wet but unharmed.

"Are you all right, sir?" a commando asked.

"I'm fine," Feral said. Dripping wet, but nonetheless grinning, he stalked up to the two handcuffed SWAT Kats. "In fact... I don't think I've ever been better..." 


	4. Enter the Dark Kat

At the same time that the SWAT Kats were being arrested near Old Megakat Bridge, three Enforcer jets were flying towards a gigantic stormcloud which had situated itself over the tallest volcanic peaks in the Megakat Mountains. Reports of the cloud had come in from hikers in the area. Commander Feral considered the cloud worrisome due to weather reports insisting on clear skies for the area.

Clearly, the cloud was trouble. It had not made the news, though, due to the SWAT Kats' battle against Hard Drive hogging the airwaves. As it should, thought the lead pilot. Who cared about a cloud, inexplicable or not? Nevertheless, Commander Feral wasn't a kat who took chances. But when he'd been called away on some unexpected business, it was Felina Feral who gave the three pilots their briefing.

"All right men, form up and let's complete our inspection run," the lead pilot said. "I'll report in to Lieutenant Feral."

"Roger," said his wingman.

They sped towards the cloud. As they neared it, its sheer size became apparent to them. Awed, the lead pilot said into his microphone, "Lieutenant, this is the squadron leader. We are approaching the cloud. It appeared to be situated over a volcano, but there's no sign of an eruption. It's enormous! At least a mile wide! I can see what looks like lightning emanating from within it. It's definitely a stormcloud of some kind."

"I guess the weather reports were wrong, then," said Felina listening in back at Headquarters.

The jets entered the cloud. For a moment the pilots' vision was obscured, but then, something vague could be made out amidst the swirling blackness. The lead pilot recoiled as the brief flashes of lightning illuminated a massive, irregular shape the size of a building.

"Lieutenant!" he cried. "I see something! Something pretty big! Orders?"

"Return to base at once!" Felina said over the radio. "We'll deal with this mystery later!"

"Affirmative!" the lead pilot replied and the three jets began to bank away.

"Hey, what's that?" yelled one of the wingmen.

A moment later something flashed forth from the object and struck his jet, and it exploded in midair. The lead pilot barely had time to register this, or even report it before a second flash blinded him, and he knew nothing more as his own aircraft flew apart into flaming metal and ashes. The remaining pilot, terrified, flew for his life, and actually managed to make it free of the cloud. A third blast fired and missed him, and then he was out of range and flying back to Megakat City as fast as his craft would go.

"Headquarters! We've been attacked! Squadron leader and the other wingman both down!"

Listening in back at Enforcer Headquarters, Felina listened helplessly as she heard the first two pilots' screams of terror coming in over the headphones she wore, followed by the unmistakable sound of an explosion. Then nothing but static. She listened to the remaining wingman's babble.

"Calm down!" she assured him. "We can't undersyand anything you're saying. Radio silence from now on. Return to Headquarters for debriefing at once!"

Angrily, she pulled the headphones off and threw them aside.

"Uncle was right," she said. "That cloud thing, whatever it is, is definitely dangerous!

"We should scramble everything we have at it at once!" an Enforcer technician suggested.

"No!" said Felina. "Not until we know more about it! It shot down two of our jets like toys and almost got a third! It could probably do that to an entire squadron unless we knew exactly what it is we're dealing with."

Inside the cloud was the Fear Ship. In the main control center aboard the great vessel within the center of the cloud, three figures stood staring up at the giant viewscreen. All three were wearing purple military uniforms emblazoned with stylized "D" insignia. Onscreen, the third and final Enforcer flew away and gradually receded into the distance.

The trio turned turned to face the great figure upon the huge throne on a dais overlooking the cavernous control room. The leader, Blim, wore shoulder patches with a number "1" on either.

"The threat has been neutralized, Lord Dark Kat," he reported.

The Dark Kat shifted on his throne, and rose, towering above his subordinates, surrounded by dozens of his chittering Creeplings. He glowered down at the cowering Blim and the other two.

"Wrong, One!" Dark Kat boomed. "You allowed one to escape! Now the Enforcers will learn of a hostile presence within the cloud, before we have been fully charged by the volcano's geothermal power!"

"Only a small mistake!" Blim stammered. "I can still stop him! Just wait!"

"Wait for what, One?" Dark Kat snarled. "More stupidity? You had your chance!"

Suddenly a dozen Creeplings swarmed from the shadows and surrounded Blim, and grabbed him by the arms. The lead technician was lifted off his feet and flown through the air. A trapdoor opened, revealing the dark cloud beneath. Blim was dropped through this with a shrill scream and disappeared to his death in the volcano below.

The trapdoor boomed shut and Dark Kat looked at the two remaining technicians. One was Marlow, a handsome young kat with blonde hair and the number "2" on his shoulder patches. The other, Zeckis, was middle-aged with already-thinning brown hair. His shoulder patches said "3" on them.

"You are in command now, Two!" he said.

Marlow nodded with a mixture of fear and confidence. The viewscreen fizzled and changed to show a Kat's Eye News report that caught Dark Kat's attention. Initially the criminal mastermind feared that it would already be about the cloud. Instead, when Ann Gora came onscreen she had something quite unexpected to say.

"This is Ann Gora, Kat's Eye News, with a late-breaking special report! The legendary SWAT Kats have been arrested! That's right, you heard it here first, on Kat's Eye News!"

Dark Kat couldn't believe what he was hearing! But there they were on the news, being led into Enforcer Headquarters in handcuffs. The cameraman attempted to get in close but was shooed away by a glowering Commander Feral.

Ann continued, "Their arrest follows their heroic thwarting of the cyber criminal Hard Drive earlier today! As yet, no charges have yet been filed."

Turning she saw a stern, polished-looking young kat in a business suit.

"District Attorney Mills!" She rushed over and jammed her microphone in Mills' face. "Can you tell our viewers at home exactly what charges the city intends to bring against the SWAT Kats?"

Mills had a pinched, nasally voice. "Why, that's simple. Reckless endangerment of citizens, willful destruction of public property a hundred times over, willful flaunting of the law, and theft and destruction of Enforcer property! Excuse me."

He moved away and headed up the steps of the building. Laughing, Dark Kat pressed a button and the viewscreen went blank.

"This presents me with a singular opportunity," he mused. "Two, be so kind as to arrange for a little... accident to happen to my old friends the SWAT Kats would you? I do believe we ought to save the taxpayers of Megakat City the cost of a trial!"

"Yes, Lord Dark Kat," Marlow responded.

"In the meantime," Dark Kat continued, "resume powering up. I want my Fear Ship at maximum capacity before I reduce Megakat City to rubble. In the meantime, I shall be below..."

Marlow and Zeckis stood at attention as Dark Kat came down from his throne and stalked from the control room. While his subordinates plotted the deserving deaths of the SWAT Kats, he had much more important things to attend to in his onboard laboratory... 


	5. SWAT Kats Unmasked

Ann Gora's cameraman attempted to get in close but was shooed away by a glowering Commander Feral.

"Commander Feral, please, the press has a right to-" Ann's voice cried out in protest.

"All right, fine," Feral said. "I supposed you and everyone else in Megakat City deserves to know the truth!"

Feral motioned for his men to halt and approached the cuffed vigilantes, Ann's camerman following closely, getting a good shot over the Commander's left bicep. One of Feral's large hands reached for T-Bone's head. The yellow furred cat flinched away and was held in place by the escorting commandos as Feral seized the top of the black mask.

The crowd waited with bated breath. Then with a tug Feral tore the mask off, revealing a handsome but unremarkable yellow-furred male feline. Feral threw the mask aside and repeated the motion with Razor, who struggled fiercely.

Feral said, "Citizens of Megakat City I give you the SWAT Kats! Chance Furlong and Jake Clawson, formerly of the Enforcers!"

T-Bone and Razor, or rather, Chance and Jake now that they'd been officially unmasked, growled at Feral as the crowd reacted with a mixture of emotions. Shock, anger, delight and in some cases, awe. There were even a few kittens waving autograph books and pens. It was all the Enforcers could do to keep them back.

"There is pandemonium here at Enforcer Headquarters as this stunning revelation is shown to the world!" Ann Gora said.

Lieutenant Felina Feral stood at the top of the steps of Enforcer Headquarters, watching with disgust at the display her usually sensible uncle was putting on. This wasn't right. If he had to arrest the SWAT Kats, he could've at least let them keep their dignity! She gave the SWAT Kats a sympathetic look as the commandos led them up the steps, past her and into the building. In the instant that their faces met, T-Bone scowled but Felina could tell by his eyes that he appreciated her sympathy, and Razor managed a weak smile.

Felina was struck by how much different they were unmasked. It was clear they were the same two cats she'd fought alongside dozens of times, but now that she could see their eyes, they were far more expressive. It moved her and made her annoyance, not, her anger at what her uncle had just done all the more intense. And then the moment was over and the commandos had ushered the handcuffed SWAT Kats.

Hearing her uncle's bootsteps coming up, Felina whirled to him and glared with a ferocity that made Feral step back and almost fall down the steps. He looked startled, but not unsurprised, by his niece's anger.

"Not here, Felina," he grumbled, anticipating her words.

"Why?" she demanded to know.

He didn't answer. He simply stormed past her and into the main lobby of the building. Felina followed, matching his pace. The doors swung shut, drowning the noise of the crowds outside to a dull muffle. As Feral headed for the elevator, Felina got in front of him, blocking his path. He stopped and stared down at her.

"Felina, get out of my way!"

"Why?" she asked again. "Why, when you didn't give T-Bone and Razor the same courtesy!"

"Furlong and Clawson," Feral corrected her. "They're not the SWAT Kats anymore. The media may still call them that, but now that I know who they really are, they're just two screwup ex-Enforcers that I-"

Felina angrily cut him off. "That doesn't give you the right to humiliate them the way you did!"

Feral blinked and looked hurt, as if he had only just that moment realized the enormity of what he'd done. He recovered quickly, though, and straightened his shoulders, jutting his large chin forward, looking authorative.

"I don't like your attitude, Lieutenant," he said smartly. "Now, I want you to take over this cloud business for me while I assist District Attorney Mills in presenting an airtight case against Clawson and Furlong."

"I won't help you bring down the-" Felina began.

Feral held a hand up to silence her, and said, "Which is why I'm assigning you the task of handling the Anakata business. I know you too well. I can't bring myself to make you choose between your loyalty to the Enforcers and your loyalty to your friends."

Felina stepped back, surprised. She was still fiercely angry with her uncle, but grateful that he was thinking of her feelings on the matter and, in his own blustery way, trying to help her cope. She nodded and got out of his way. He continued and took the elevator to his office.

Upstairs in his office, Feral stood at the window overlooking the runway. There stood the Turbokat. He'd flown it here himself. Quite an impressive jet. At the moment several Enforcer technicians were examining it. Feral hoped to reverse-engineer its technology to replace the obsolete Enforcer jets.

Sighing, he turned and walked over to his desk, checking the clock. He was expecting Mills in a few minutes. Suddenly the elevator door out in the waiting room dinged open. Was that Mills already? He was early. Feral heard his secretary tell whoever-it-was they couldn't go in and then the door swung open with a bang. Feral actually jumped back, wide-eyed, as Deputy Mayor Callie Briggs stood framed in the doorway, her eyes narrowed to slits and her mouth twisted into a hateful scowl.

"Commander Feral!" she hissed. "How dare you arrest the SWAT Kats?"

Oh, great, thought Feral. What was she going to do? Claw out his eyes? She sure looked ready to spring at him.

"Very easily, Deputy Mayor," Feral answered. "I'm well aware that it doesn't quite gel with your whitewashed opinion of those two, but vigilantism happens to be against the law."

Composing himself and adjusting his uniform, Feral cleared his throat, overcoming his shock. For once, Briggs was going to be the one on the defensive. Now that Feral finally had those two troublemakers down in lockup, with the law on his side, he had nothing to fear from Briggs. Or from Manx. Feral knew Manx did not in any way endorse the SWAT Kats officially, no matter how many parades he offered to throw them, so he would in no way move to impede Mills' efforts to bring the vigilantes to trial.

Which left Briggs totally without any allies. All she could do was argue with her emotions and her idealistic worship of the SWAT Kats. Which she did.

"But how could you do this after everything they've done for Megakat City?" Callie said, storming up to the much taller male and glaring up at him.

"I'm quite certain the judge will take their many services to the city into consideration when sentencing them," Feral said. "Anyway, their heroism isn't on trial, Deputy Mayor, but their flagrant disregard for the law is!"

"Am I interrupting something...?" a voice said. Feral turned to see District Attorney Mills standing there.

"No," said Feral, "Deputy Mayor Briggs was just leaving. Now, Miss Briggs, I suggest you do so of your own free will. Because I don't care if you are Manx's mouthpiece, I'll have you thrown out of here if I have to."

"You backstabbing snake!" Callie spat, completely ignoring Mills. "They've saved your worthless carcass dozens of times, and this is how you repay them?"

Feral groaned. It was like arguing with a brick wall. Briggs may have been an effective politician - although Feral dreaded the day when she became the new mayor - but whenever the SWAT Kats were involved, they could clearly do no wrong in her eyes, and the intelligent career she-kat was reduced to a starry-eyed fangirl as far as Feral was concerned. And he didn't have time to argue with her.

Fortunately, she left then. She turned in a huff, and shoved past the confused-looking Mills, leaving the office.

Meanwhile, Chance and Jake were taken to the holding cells. Awaiting them were a grim-looking Jablonsky and a sneering Lyman. Crud, thought, Chance, these guys again. He'd forgotten all about them. They were like Burke and Murray but with badges.

"Welcome to your new accomodations, Furlong, " Lyman said.

Chance remembered putting numerous perps in here, himself, back when he and Jake were still just walking the beat. He never thought in this universe that they'd see the inside of one themselves. Jablonsky and Lyman took them from the escorting commandos and brought them to a cell with another occupant sitting on the bench with his head down, and Jablonsky opened the door.

Chance briefly entertained the insane notion that he and Jake were back in the dark universe against as with a shove Lyman sent him stumbling forward so hard he ended up sprawling on his stomach. Jablonsky just pushed Jake in without any real malice, and then the door slid shut with a metallic clang that sound as loud as the trumpets of armageddon.

Jake helped Chance up but Chance shoved him away angrily. Jake stepped back, holding his hands up in an effort to placate his partner.

"Enjoy your stay, fellas! And feel free to socialize with yer cellmate!" Lyman cackled shrilly.

"You might say he's eager for some payback!" added Jablonsky.

Laughing, the two turned and walked off with the commandos. Chance and Jake turned and looked at their cellmate, who very slowly lifted his moppy-haired head and blinked in surprise at them. Then a cruel, evil smirk spread across his lips.

"Well, well, well," Hard Drive said, "If it isn't my two favorite vigilantes!"

"Aw, great..." grumbled Chance. 


	6. Little Assassins

On the runway of Enforcer Headquarters, Felina Feral finished running the pre-flight check of her jet and slid her flight helmet on. She turned to the two Enforcer pilots who were to serve as her wingmen, Gavin and O'Herlihy. Both dependable fighter pilots who'd flown with her on missions before.

"All right, everything check out?" she asked.

"Yes, Lieutenant," O'Herlihy said. "We're ready to go make another run at this cloud thing."

"Then let's go."

As Felina climbed into her jet, and her men did the same, Commander Feral emerged from inside the building and walked over. He'd finished his meeting with District Attorney Mills, giving him all the information he would need to make his case against the SWAT Kats, including access to the data on the Turbokat.

Feral passed the vigilante's jet while the technicians continued examining it and allowed his hand to slide along its smooth, black hull. If nothing else, it was a beautiful jet. Clawson was a genius if he was able to take an scrapyard model even more obsolete than the current Enforcer jets and turn it into the finest aircraft in Megakat City's skies. Nevermind that this was the second or third one. Feral forgot how many times it'd been destroyed and rebuilt.

He approached Felina's jet and got her attention. "Felina," he said.

Felina blinked and looked down at her uncle. Some of her anger at him from before remained. "Yes, Commander?" she replied curtly.

Despite the lack of affection in her voice, Feral managed the tiniest of smiles, trying to apologize for his attitude earlier, but all he could get out was, "Good luck, Lieutenant. I'll be listening in over the radio."

Whether Felina got the message or not, Feral didn't know, but she smiled at him nonetheless. The cockpit canopy slid forwards and Feral stepped out of harm's way as the jet's engines fired up. The jet shot off down the runway and took to the skies followed by the other two who were to serve as wingmen, headed off over the city skyline, toward the bay, and from there to Anakata Island.

Sergeant Brady walked up. "Sir, District Attorney Mills has just left to begin preparing for the trial tomorrow."

"And Briggs?" asked Feral.

The Sergeant shook his head. "She left your office, but not the building. She's trying to get in to see the SWAT Kats- uh, I mean Furlong and Clawson. Should I...?"

Giving it a moment's thought, Feral said, "No, let her see them."

"Yes, sir," Brady said. He saluted and walked off.

Feral watched him go, then turned to look out over the city. The sun was starting to set and Felina's jets were already just specks disappearing on the horizon.

In the holding cells, Chance angrily gripped the bars and scowled at his fate. Hard Drive still sat on the bench, not moving. Jake walked over and placed his hand on Chance's shoulder, earning a glare over the shoulder from his partner.

"Chance, relax," Jake soothed. "Staying pissed off isn't going to solve anything."

"It's theraputic," Chance grumbled. He turned away. "Look, if you want me to say sorry for panicking and trying to run earlier... I... well, what else was I supposed to do? Surrender without a fight, when we had a chance at getting away?"

"Did we have a chance?" Jake asked, frowning. "I mean, really, with all those Enforcers? And where would we have gone anyway?"

Chance didn't answer. He merely continued standing there, still as a statue, gripping the bars. Jake took his hand off of his clearly troubled friend's shoulder, but kept talking.

"I think you and I both knew this was going to happen eventually. Nothing lasts forever. Despite all our precautions there was always the chance somebody, somehow, would find out who we really were."

He suddenly looked very depressed. "That somebody just happened to wind up being the two dumbest guys in Megakat City..."

Chance looked at him. "If you're trying to make me feel better, Jake, cut it out."

"Oh, would you two cut it out with the touchy-feely nonsense!" Hard Drive piped up angrily.

Chance whirled to him. Jake suddenly felt worried. Tensions had been mounting between these two ever since they were brought in earlier. Hard Drive was a petty two-bit thief, surge suit or no surge suit. He wanted to start a fight.

Jake looked at Chance and sighed as he saw that look in his buddy's eyes. He'd seen that look before, all those times Chance lost his temper and became unreasonably angry. Not that this look was any different than it had been two minutes ago, but Hard Drive was pushing Chance's buttons, big time.

"If you don't like us talkin' why don't you come over and make us quit?" Chance challenged.

Jake palmed his face in despair. This wouldn't end well.

Hard Drive jumped to his feet and charged at them, Chance in particular. "I may not have my surge suit but I can still tackle you one on one, T-Bone, or should I say Furlong?"

He swung his fist, hitting Chance in the jaw. Chance staggered back, growled and jumped onto Hard Drive, knocking the villain flat on his back.

Anger overcame him as he began pummeling Hard Drive's face mercilessly. In his mind the powerless criminal beneath him was Commander Feral, and he was giving that big-chinned buffoon the beating of his life. He didn't feel Jake trying to pull him off of his opponent, didn't hear the sound of the cell door unlocking and the scuffling feet as Enforcers ran in to break up the fight.

Jake was made to step aside by a commando as it took both Jablonsky and Lyman to pull Chance off of Hard Drive. The big cat wrestled with the pair but Lyman managed to cuff his hands behind his back, and still he put up a fight so violent they had to hang on for dear life and struggle to make him sit down on the bench.

The commando stooped down to examine Hard Drive who was bloodied and bruised. "Keep that lunatic away from me!" Hard Drive yelped.

Lyman asked, "How is he...?"

"He's okay, just some bumps and cuts, is all, but, wow, did Furlong ever give him a pounding!" said the command.

"Well, get him out of here! Put him in a different cell! No, in a different cell block!"

The commando gingerly helped Hard Drive limp from the cell.

A moment or so later a female voice said, "Picking fights, huh, Chance...?"

Chance looked up. "Callie!"

Deputy Mayor Callie Briggs stood at the door, Sergeant Brady behind her. As she entered, Jablonsky and Lyman tried to stop her, but the Sergeant made them back off.

"She can see them," he said. "Commander Feral's orders."

Looking annoyed, Jablonsky and Lyman walked out. The Sergeant eyed Callie and said, "Five minutes," then turned and followed the other two officers.

"Hi, Miss Briggs," said Jake. "A pleasure, as always, although I wish it were under better circumstances..."

"To say the least," grumbled Chance.

Callie came and sat down on the bench next to him. Warm sympathy poured from every word as she spoke. "I'm doing everything I can to help you guys out," she said. "I have a few friends at the D.A.'s office who owe me a few favors from way back when. I think I can try and get you guys a good defense attorney."

"Thanks, Miss Briggs," said Jake, whose mind was, and had been since they were arrested, on the upcoming trial and the various legal issues.

He knew that the case was mostly airtight. After all, he and Chance were guilty of exactly what Feral said they were. What they would need to do, he knew, was get a competent lawyer to argue that their breaking the law had been necessary for the greater good. That and get a really sympathetic judge.

As Chance sat sullenly, not even cheered by Callie's presence, one question was on Jake's mind, and he voiced it. "Um, Miss Briggs, I was wondering... now that you know your beloved SWAT Kats are really your friendly neighborhood grease monkeys, I, uh..." He rubbed the back of his head.

"I still think the world of you two, if that's what you mean," Callie replied, smilin gently.

Jake mirrored the smile. "Thanks, Callie-I mean, Miss Briggs, that means a lot, but that isn't what I meant. It's just that it took so long for anyone to figure out who we really were that, well, I was curious if..." He trailed off.

"What he's trying to say," Chance piped up, "is if you ever suspected the truth." He smirked a bit at Jake.

Callie stifled a giggle, covering her mouth. "The truth?" she asked. Both of them nodded. "Then, yes, I did. And more than that, I think I always knew."

Chance and Jake reeled at this, blinking.

"Oh, don't look so shocked. I'm not as dense as everyone else in this city. Besides, those disguises weren't really intended to work on people who saw you both in and out of them on a regular basis. I just never said anything because I didn't wanna bruise your egos."

She smirked and ruffled Chance's hair as Jake laughed, with the thin brown cat amazed any of them could find humor in such a dire situation.

That humor dissipated quickly as Jablonsky appeared and motioned with his hand for Callie to come with him. Time was up. Callie was in the middle of standing with a deep sigh when suddenly the lights dimmed a bit. Everyone started and looked surprised, and then the ground underneath Callie's feet cracked and several pairs of pink hands shot up through the floor and grabbed her ankles. She screamed as she began to be pulled down into the gradually widening hole.

Everyone acted all at once. Chance stood, then realized he hands were still cuffed behind his back, watching helplessly as Jake, assisted by Jablonsky, grabbed Callie and began a furious tug-of-war against the unseen menace.

"The keys!" Chance yelled.

"Lyman's got them!" Jablonsky grunted.

Lyman came running up the hallway in response to the noise. The other prisoners were practically rioting at all this commotion. There was yelling, screaming, demands to be let free, total chaos. Finally the combined might of Jake and Jablonsky pulled Callie free. Jablonsky let go and stumbled backward out into the hall where he crashed into Lyman, knocking both of them to the floor. Jake likewise flew backward onto the cell floor at Chance's feet, and the unbalanced Callie landed on top of him.

From the hole emerged three Creeplings, chittering angrily. But these were unlike the usual Creeplings. Two of them carried small, Creepling-sized laser rifles, and all three wore little red-lensed tactical goggles.

"What the-?" cried Chance. "What are these? Stealth Creeplings?"

In response, one of the Creeplings armed with a laser gun pointed it at him and fired. It singed his cheekfur and he dove aside, lost his balance, and fell to the floor a few feet away from Jake and Callie. His attacker leaped onto the bench, ignoring the other two, and fired at him a second time. Chance rolled to the side and the laser blast struck the floor inches from a startled Jake's head.

One of the other two Creeplings, the unarmed one, lunged at Jake but he kicked it, sending it flying out of the cell. It landed on Jablonsky and began franatically, ravenously attacking him, clawing and biting at his face as he screamed and thrashed. Lyman stood, looking shocked, and stared down at the third Creepling, who whirled and aimed its gun up at him.

"A Creepling with a gun?" he yelped.

The Creepling fired, hitting Lyman in the shoulder. The Enfrocer officer spun and hit the wall, then slid down with a groan. Jablonsky thrashed and pulled the Creepling off of himself and threw it away, and then reeled as as the other Creepling fired several laser blasts through his torso. He dropped. Both Creeplings then ran and resumed their attack against their original targets.

The unarmed leaped onto Jake's chest but he grabbed it and yanked it off, holding it at arm's length as it squirmed and snarled. The other one fired, and Jake tossed his attacker aside and ducked. It smacked into the wall and fell down onto the bench.

"Jake, the keys!" Chance yelled as he dodged another blast from his Creepling, who turned and began firing at Jake as well. While it was distracted, Chance managed to kick its laser gun away. Snarling it began fighting him hand to hand. And cuffed as he was, Chance for the first time found himself in a situation where a Creepling stood a chance of outmatching him physically.

"Stay down, Callie!" Jake said, then leaped into the air, flipping over the Creepling at the door.

It aimed up, fired and missed, putting a hole in the ceiling, as Jake landed behind it and swung his leg, kicking it. He felt its spine snap and it went flying forwards to land in a twitching heap beside Callie. Jake then ran to the unmoving form of Lyman, got the handcuff keys, and threw them to Chance... only for the Creepling he'd knocked to the bench to grab them.

"I don't think so!" Callie said, grabbing the unprepared Creepling's neck. "Chance, catch!"

She took the keys from it and tossed them to Chance, then violently threw the little creature down and brought the stiletto heel of her shoe down upon it. It screamed shrilly as she ground it underfoot.

The keys hit the floor and Chance rolled over on them and grabbed them with his hands, struggling to unlock them even as the last remaining Creepling leaped onto its chest. He glared at it. Seconds before it would've attacked, he'd uncuffed himself and seized the little monster and lifted it until he was staring into the red lenses of its goggles.

"You ugly little creep," he snarled and grabbed the head and twisted. He winced at the sharp crack, then threw the lifeless little body aside in disgust and went to check on Jake and Callie to see if they were okay.

"We're all right," said Jake, "let's check on them."

He indicated the prone forms of the Enforcer officers. Lyman was only winged, and although badly hurt, Jablonsky still lived, but he'd need medical attention. The door to the cell block opened suddenly and a small army of Enforcers charged in and surrounded them, laser rifles aimed at them. Commander Feral himself strode in and pushed his way past his men to stand there glowering down at Chance and Jake as they kneeled over the body of Lyman.

"What in the world-" he began.

"Here's your answer, Commander," Callie said, kicking the one she'd stepped on his way. The barely living, squirming thing rolled against Feral's boot with a wet slap and Feral glowered and cringed away. "Creeplings!" Callie said. "Sent to kill the SWAT Kats, no doubt!"

"Yeah," said Jake as he stood. Two Enforcers tended to Jablonsky and Lyman.

Suddenly Feral whipped his blaster out and aimed it at Chance, he leaped back. "Move!" Feral yelled.

Chance jumped aside, revealing the Creepling whose spine Jake's kick had broken, crawling for the dropped miniature laser rifle. Feral fired, disintegrating the creature's body into ash. Then he aimed down and repeated this gesture for the twitching Creepling at his feet.

"It looks like somebody doesn't want us to make it to court."

"Yeah, somebody who's name begins with 'Dark' and ends with 'Kat.'" 


	7. The Ruse

In the aftermath of the Creepling infiltration of Enforcer Headquarters, security was doubled throughout the entire building to root out any more possible infiltrators. Nothing had been found but still the security detail was kept tight. Jablonsky would live. So would Lyman, and despite himself, Chance was glad. He wished a lot of things upon Lyman but death wasn't one of them.

An examination of the gear and weapons used by the three highly unusual Creeplings had yielded quite a bit of information. Despite some initial grousing from Commander Feral and District Attorney Mills, Callie, after placing a call to Mayor Manx, had ensured a temporary offputting of the impending trial so that Chance and Jake - Jake, mostly - could help examine the Creeplings' equipment.

Her argument was simple. Jake Clawson was a certified mechanical genius. His original aptitude test for Enforcer enrollment some years prior had been a testament to this. In fact, the only reason he hadn't gone on to become one of the Enforcers' finest scientific minds instead of ending up first a beat cop and then gunner was due to his dislike of the laboratory setting. Jake Clawson loved more than anything to tinker and to invent, but he wasn't suited to being cooped up in a workshop at all hours. He'd wanted excitement.

Commander Ashland, Feral's predecessor, had expressed severe discontent at this. Even though the traitorous scum, who later turned out to be a pawn of Dark Kat's in a far larger scheme, could never even get Jake's name right, even Ashland had recognized the young trainee's potential, and done everything he could to goad him into joining the science divison. Jake, as politely as possible of course, had said no, and ended up joining the patrol squadron, which was where he'd first met the risk-taking, short-tempered Chance Furlong. His best friend forever more.

Even now with their freedom hanging in the balance and the possibility of more assassins being sent to kill them even within Enforcer Headquarters, even after all of this, Jake never regretted his decision to become a cop instead of a scientist. And then to follow Chance Furlong into the air division and ultimately right out of the Enforcers and down the harrowing path that had led to this very situation. As difficult as Chance could be, and even despite Jake's own complaints about Chance's actions during their attempted earlier escape, in truth, he regretted nothing.

After all, if it was excitement he wanted, he was getting it even as he examined the goggles worn by the very Creeplings sent to kill them in their prison cell. It was the excitement of scientific discovery, a joy he felt despite never having actually become a scientist.

After some grumbling, Feral had agreed to let Jake look at the objects. Chance was just sort of allowed to tag along. That was fine with him. Even if he had nothing of importance to add, it was better than sitting alone in his cell.

"These goggles are pretty standard tactical gear," said Jake. "Scoped infra-red lenses with night vision. And this little lens here in the center is a camera that records everything the Creepling sees onto microfilm."

"Dark Kat sure is getting serious if he's outfitting his Creeplings with this high grade stuff," Chance said, picking up one of the straps the little creatures had worn across their chests. "What's this little thing here in the middle?"

"I'm not sure," Jake admitted, setting the goggles aside.

He took the strap and had a close look at the device in the center which was fitted with an LED. Getting a pair of tweezers he gently prid it off, revealing a miniature microchip of some kind underneath. Grinning suddenly, he snapped his fingers.

"It's a homing beacon!" he said. "I guess whenever the Creeplings finish their mission or Dark Kat wants to call them back to his hideout, this think emits a blinking light from the LED and lets the Creeplings know it's time to vamoose."

"But how does that help us find Dark Kat?" asked Callie who along with Commander Feral stood by the door nearby.

"Easy," said Jake. "To activate the beacon, Dark Kat needs to send a signal. If I can reverse the signal we can trace it back to its origin, and find his base!"

"As easy as that?" Feral asked, one eyebrow raised.

"As easy as that!" Jake said with a grin.

Chance frowned and then picked up one of the goggle pairs and examined it. "Buddy, you said that these things record everything the Creeplings see and hear?"

"Right," Jake said. "Why?"

"I was thinking... wouldn't Dark Kat already know they screwed up? Y'know, and send s'more to do the job right this time? 'Cause I got an idea to cover our tails and prevent 'im from doing that. It probably won't work but it's worth a try."

Jake shifted a bit and eyed his friend. Chance wasn't the world's best master planner, but after their tussle with the Creeplings that had guns and night vision goggles the brown-furred cat was willing to hear any crackpot ideas to stave off the next attack. So he listened, and smiled, and mentally smacked himself for not thinking of it himself. After agreeing to the plan and getting even Feral to agree to it, if only to keep them alive long enough to stand trial, Jake whirled around and set to work on the first step: reversing the microchip's signal. For the second step, he and Chance returned to the cell block. Callie, Feral and a thoroughly confused-looking District Attorney Mills followed, each carrying a pair of the goggles...

The Dark Kat stood within his alchemical laboratory on board the Fear Ship. It looked similar to the one from Darkhaven Manor, and with good reason: it was exact same lab. Ripped right from the house itself the room had been brought piece by piece, stone by stone and rebuilt, and the Fear Ship built around it, so Dark Kat could begin work on his grand scheme to seize Megakat City.

The main difference between this room and the one at its original location at Darkhaven was that in place of the alchemical conjuring pit was a giant glass cylinder that rose from floor to ceiling. Similar cylinders lined the walls. Inside each grew the seed of Megakat City's ultimate destruction. Everything Dark Kat had experimented with over the years in his efforts to combine magic and science, from the Creeplings to his own deformed but effective immortality, had been mere experiments compared to this.

He was quite proud and as he stared within the cylinder, he smiled with his lipless, jack-o-lantern-like maw and with one giant hand gave the glass a gentle, paternal pat, unable to pet the actual contents of the thing.

"Soon, my young one," he cooed in his deep, rich menacing voice. "Soon you and your brothers will be born unto a brave new world and you will lead my Creeplings, your cousins, to victory against the Enforcers, just as soon as the SWAT Kats are taken care of."

"Lord Dark Kat!" a voice from behind interrupted his beaming paternal pride. He turned. At the top of the stone steps stood Marlow, or "Two" as Dark Kat called him. "We have a situation! The Enforcers are tracking the Fear Ship!"

"What? Impossible!" Dark Kat growled and came up the steps at him. "They cannot track what they don't even know exists!"

"Maybe they can't, but they are anyway!" Marlow said.

Dark Kat sighed. He eagerly awaited the birth of his new creations so he could be done with Marlow. His three eager followers had been recruited to help him design and build the Fear Ship, so he could focus on his experiments in combining magic and science, but now that the Fear Ship was complete, the trio had proved woefully inept at anything beyond the merely technical. Marlow most of all. Zeckis, at least, understood his own limitations but Marlow wasn't taking his new role as project leader very seriously.

Entering the control room with Marlow hurrying after Dark Kat found Zeckis working at a console feverishly. He shoved the smaller cat aside and examined the instruments himself. It appeared the Enforcers detected the signal channel intended for the Creeplings' homing beacons and were piggybacking on it to try and determine the Fear Ship's location. Quite clever. But easily stopped. So easily even Marlow understood what to do.

"Bounce it back and increase the signal," Marlow said to Zeckis. "Intensify it. Destroy the homing beacons. And do the same for the goggles."

"But that will kill the Creeplings," said Zeckis.

"Just do as I command!" snapped Marlow.

"Not yet," said Dark Kat, annoyed. "First let us see if they completed their mission."

Marlow gulped, clearly having not thought of that. He and Zeckis immediately typed up the transmitting code for the goggles' built-in cameras to begin sending the images of what the Creeplings saw. The big viewscreen flickered to life, sending to Dark Kat a red-tinted image of what he only saw in his fondest dreams. T-Bone and Razor, unmasked, and laying immobile on the floor of their prison cell.

He clenched his fists in evil glee, then froze a bit. Something seemed off. Closer examination, however, revealed that the goggles' lenses were only a couple of feet off the ground. Clearly the Creeplings were still wearing them, but he had a nagging feeling nonetheless.

Still, with the Fear Ship finally powered up and ready for its assault, and his new army ready for birth in mere hours, even if this was somehow faked, it didn't matter. Of course if it turned out the Creeplings failed, Marlow was in for a very unpleasant comeuppance, but for the moment the hulking purple cat believed what he saw, and nodded to Zeckis to resume intensifying the signal.

"Destroy the beacons quickly," said Dark Kat, "and the goggles, as well, before the Enforcers think to piggyback on this signal as well."

A moment later the screen fizzled and went blank. The goggles had self-destructed, killing their wearers no doubt. Not that it mattered. A few Creeplings, here and there, were affordable to lose. That was what they were for. He was about to return to the alchemical laboratory when an alarm sounded. He whirled and stared at the radar which showed three blips fast approaching their position. Pressing a button he brought up a remote image of the impending intruders, a trio of Enforcer jets.

"It seems I did not act quickly enough," Zeckis said, looking suddenly afraid. "I, uh, I am sorry, Lord Dark Kat..."

"No," Dark Kat reassured him. "If these were sent to attack, there'd be more than just three. This is just a scouting party. Sent out earlier to investigate what they think is just an ordinary volcanic disturbance."

"I'll activate the targetting program," said Marlow, but Dark Kat stopped him as something caught his keen eye.

"Wait!" he ordered. "Magnify the image on the jet in front!"

A moment later the cockpit of the lead jet filled the screen and Dark Kat beheld the unmistakable visage of Lieutenant Felina Feral. This was too perfect. He smirked and folded his arms behind his back, standing up a little straighter. First, the SWAT Kats had been successfully killed, at long last, and now Commander Feral's niece was on her way to him with a piddily two wingmen to back her up.

"Make yourselves presentable, you two," Dark Kat said smoothly. "We are soon to have guests. I think it's time we finally moved the Fear Ship away from the island and did away with this smoke and mirror nonsense. Move us forward. And then... activate the tractor beam."

"How long do we have to keep doing this...?" asked District Attorney Mills.

"As long as we have to," replied Callie.

Feral, Mills and Callie were standing stooped over holding the red-lensed goggles they'd taken off of the dead Creeplings, holding the eyepieces close to the ground. At "eye level" for a Creepling, or so Jake had concluded. They had been instructed to "wiggle" the goggles around to simulate the excited jitteriness of the little pink creatures. Jake and Chance, meanwhile, were lying sprawled on the floor of their cell, trying not to move, although Chance has having a difficult time of it.

"My nose itches!" he whispered. His face was turned away from the prying goggles so it was a safe bet Dark Kat, wherever he was, hadn't seen him speak. Nevertheless he spoke very softly and slowly, moving his mouth as little as possible.

"Just keep still," Jake said out of the corner of his mouth. Everything depended on them fooling Dark Kat. Who, unfortunately, wasn't all that easy to fool.

Suddenly the goggles in Mills' hands began vibrating wildly. "Uh-oh," he said, "I think something's wrong with mine!"

Instinctively, the District Attorney flung it aside. Callie was about to chastise him for it, for ruining the illusion, but the goggles exploded in midair before they even hit the ground. Quickly realizing what was happening, she threw hers down as well. Commander Feral followed suit. Their goggles blew up just as Mills' had. The three explosions were miniscule. But enough that they would've almost certainly killed the Creeplings, had they still been alive and wearing them. Or, more importantly, blown off the three cats' hands had Mills not thrown his down when he had.

With the coast clear, Chance and Jake sat up. The first thing Chance did was furiously scratch his nose and sigh in relief. "Whew, well, that's a relief!" he said. "Do you think Dark Crud bought it?"

"Only time will tell," Jake said, standing. "For now, we just have to hope he thinks his little assassins succeeded. Luckily for us, he opted to eliminate his own Creeplings. Would've sucked big time if they'd reported back to him that he was still alive."

District Attorney Mills stepped forward now. "I still don't understand what that was supposed to have accomplished. If you two think you're lulling Dark Kat into a false sense of security so you can attempt some kind of sneak against him, wherever he is, you're sorely mistaken. The charges against you are still pending."

Jake sighed. "We realize that!" he grumbled. "This was just to prevent him from sending any more of those lousy little things to kill us. We'd prefer to sit out our trial peacefully, without constant assassination attempts."

"Oh," said Mills, looking embarrassed.

Feral took charge of the situation. "Now all we have to do is find Dark Kat, and-"

At this moment, Sergeant Brady came charging in, arms and legs all over the place. "Commander Feral!" he cried. "That gigantic cloud over Mt. Anakata is on the move! It is approaching Megakat City from across the bay!"

"What?" cried Feral, and then realization set in. "Felina! Felina is on her way there!" 


	8. Felina Taken Captive

As the three Enforcer jets flew towards the volcano, Lieutenant Felina Feral, in the lead, frowned and squinted through her visor at the dark plume rising from the crater of Mt. Anakata. This was definitely unnatural. You didn't need to be a geologist to figure that out. The plume wasn't smoke, it was a cloud of some sort. And it masked something. Whatever that something was, it was dangerous, as it had already shot down three of the aircraft that had attempted to approach it.

Felina had no intention of entering the cloud, as the Geological Society helicopter had. Instead, her jet was outfitted with advanced analysis equipment in the nose, recently installed. It was thermal imaging equipment. She wasn't interested in what the cloud was composed of, but rather what was inside of it. As her jet approached, her two wingmen, Gavin and O'Herlihy, hung back as instructed.

"All right, let's get this over with," Felina said over her headset mic.

"Roger that, Lieutenant," said Gavin over the radio. "We're right here if you need us."

Felina nodded. She flipped a gauge on her control panel and the thermal analysis equipment scanned the cloud. A glance down at the little screen on the control panel revealed something absolutely gigantic within the cloud! She gasped. It was a vague shape she couldn't quite make out. But a few seconds later, she no longer needed the equipment. Over the radio, she heard O'Herlihy's surprised cry.

"Holy Kats!" he yelped. "Look at that!"

Felina glanced up. While she'd been glancing down at the screen, the cloud had actually begun moving forward of its own volition, headed away from the volcano.

"It's moving!" said Gavin needlessly.

Suddenly the cloud parted and began dissipating, revealing to the three shocked Enforcers an absolutely massive airship made entirely of gleaming metal of various shades of gray. It bristled with battle rigs and other weaponry. At the front, like a mouth, was a huge hangar. Above this was a large building-like structure with mirrored windows. Obviously the bridge. It was powered by four engines; two at the back and two on the sides, attached to downwardly curving winglike appendages.

Immediately Felina knew who was behind this. She knew because the ship had silver triangles bolted to the sides of the bull and just below the bridge windows. Triangles emblazoned with a blood-red "D."

"Evasive action!" she yelled and began to bank away.

Before she could however a sparkling greenish beam fired forth from the front of the ship and struck her jet. For an instance, Felina thought she was dead, that it was some kind of death beam. Instead her jet was merely jostled, and suddenly frozen in place. Then, with a surprising swiftness, the craft was pulled towards the ship. A tractor beam.

"Mayday, mayday!" Felina yelled, uselessly tugging on her stick. It was no use. The beam had her frozen in place. She wasn't going anywhere except into the ship.

"Lieutenant!" she heard Gavin's voice over the radio. His jet was making a beeline for the airship, apparently intending to take out the tractor beam. "Hang on, we'll-"

He never finished. From one of the battle rigs flew a single red bolt of energy that flew harmlessly past Felina's captive jet and struck Gavin's. Felina heard a startled scream over the radio, and then static as Gavin died. His jet exploded in midair. The rig swiveled around and fired again. Felina jerked her head around to watch as her remaining wingman banked away in an attempt to escape, and closed her eyes. She heard the explosion and O'Herlihy's final cry over her headset.

When she opened them again she could see the debris from O'Herlihy's jet plummeting down through the sky to splash into the ocean. She gritted her teeth. Dark Kat was going to pay for this. She relished being taken aboard his vessel, now. It was a chance to final plug the big purple bastard once and for all.

In the Fear Ship's control room, Marlow was smugly leaning back in his chair at the firing controls. Next to him, Zeckis was wide-eyed with amazement. Dark Kat stood behind them, arms folded indignantly.

"Got 'em," said Marlow.

"That seemed... a bit excessive," said Zeckis.

Marlow only chuckled. Dark Kat shook his head. Then, turning, he left the room to go and greet his "guest," signaling several of the Creeplings wearing tactical goggles and armed with laser rifles to follow him. As they arrived in the hangar, the tractor beam deposited Lieutenant Feral's jet neatly onto the floor. With a simple wave of his hand, Dark Kat had his Creeplings surround the craft and aim their little guns up at it, ready to fire if his prisoner attempted to try anything.

The canopy flew open and Felina unbuckled herself and stood up, hand going to the blaster holstered at her side. She glowered down at Dark Kat, who stood there, completely unafraid of the Lieutenant and her puny gun.

"Lieutenant Feral," he said smoothly, "I do apologize for your companions although you must understand I could not allow anyone to return to Megakat City and spoil the big surprise coming their way."

"You murdering-" Felina growled, and began drawing the blaster.

Dark Kat held up his hand. "In case you haven't noticed, you're quite surrounded. You can shoot me, but then you yourself would be killed just as quickly. My Creeplings may not be the best marksmen in the world, but with so many of them aiming their weapons at you, one of them is bound to get lucky, wouldn't you say...?"

Felina hesitated, looking down at the assembled Creeplings, around ten or eleven in all. Dark Kat was right. The jittery little creatures looked quite trigger-happy as well and she began to doubt she'd even live long enough to get the blaster fully out of its holster.

"All right," she said.

"Good decision," Dark Kat said. "Now, throw your weapon out."

Felina unholstered the blaster and tossed it out. It clattered noisily at Dark Kat's big purple feet. He raised one huge foot and brought it down upon the weapon, crunching it noisily into several pieces. In the jet, Felina removed her helmet revealing her eyes, previously hidden behind the tinted visor, were burning with hatred. This pleased Dark Kat immensely.

"Now, please," he crooned. "come down from there and accept my hospitality. I don't offer it to just anyone."

"We've lost contact with Lieutenant Feral," Sergeant Brady said gravely.

Standing nearby, Chance and Jake exchanged worried glances which Feral caught ouf of the corner of one eye. If nothing else, for all their bluster, those two, much like himself, actually did care about the lives and well-being of others.

Feral slumped against the wall with one hand. A gigantic object of unknown origin was heading towards Megakat City. His niece and two others, sent to investigate what the Geological Society had thought was simply a volcano on the verge of eruption, had disappeared. Feral squeezed his eyes shut as he entertained the possibility that Felina might be dead.

It wasn't the first time. Feral had always assumed that as reckless as Felina was, he'd become desensitized to the constant dangers that often resulted in her apparent demise. It certainly would've fit with the sort of image the hulking Commander like to project.

But when it was your brother's only daughter... you never got desensitized to that. Especially if you had sent her on the mission that might've gotten her killed. He had never told his niece this, but despite his confidence in her abilities he always worried about her whenever she went out on a mission. And dreaded what he was going to say to Cassius if something should...

"Commander," a soft voice said, interrupting Feral's contemplating of what he was going to say to his brother if something had indeed befallen Felina.

It was Callie Briggs. She gingerly touched his shoulder but her jerked away and composed himself, adjusting the lapels of his overcoat and clearing his throat.

"I'm fine," he said. "Now, what it is you want, Miss Briggs? If you don't mind, make it quick. My Enforcers and I have a job to do."

Callie scowled. Her rebuffed sympathy was leaving her in a bad mood. "I have a suggestion to make. It regards the SWAT Kats."

Feral eyed her. He already knew what it was she intended to suggest. So did District Attorney Mills, who, looking horrified, glanced at Feral to see his reaction to the impending request. Feral did not look at him. He simply stared straight ahead at Callie without blinking. After a moment, he looked over at Chance and Jake.

Why did all of this have to happen when the SWAT Kats were in custody? Any sooner, and Feral could've let the two vigilantes deal with the problem like usual, and then arrest them.

He could do it. He knew their real names and identities. And so did everyone else in Megakat City, Feral realized, thanks to his little ill-advised stunt on TV earlier. It would be relatively easy - difficult, but not impossible - to arrest the SWAT Kats (or whatever you wanted to call the two grease monkeys) later. But it would tarnish Feral's reputation as a hardass who didn't deal with criminals. Especially vigilantes.

But the lives of Felina and possibly two more of his men were on the line. To say nothing of countless others, should that object reach Megakat City. As much as he liked to boast about how his Enforcers could handle anything, deep in his heart Feral realized they couldn't do it alone. Granted, he could teach his pilots to fly the Turbokat, but that would take time. Time he didn't have.

His mind was made up. With a great, heaving sigh, and even as Callie opened her mouth to resume speaking, Feral said, "All right, Miss Briggs. You have yourself a deal."

"What?" cried Mills.

"Shut up," Feral said, whirling to him. "You'll still get your day in court with these two clowns, so just pipe down and sit tight."

That shut the District Attorney up, and Mills turned and left. Turning the two unmasked vigilantes, Feral said, "In return for speaking favorably on your behalf at your trial, I'll allow you to go free for as long as it takes to... deal with this situation."

"'Speak favorably at our trial?'" replied Chance, face twisted into an expression of barely contained rage. "What kind of offer is that?"

"It's the only one we're likely to get right now, buddy," said Jake, attempting to calm his partner. "Remember, our duty was always to protect the city. So whaddaya say, T-Bone? You ready for one last ride?"

Chance mulled things over. One last ride. One last chance to show these jokers exactly why Megakat City needed them. The maybe they'd let them go. He nodded solemnly. "All right, buddy. Let's do it. Give 'em one last taste of what they're gonna be throwin' away when they stick us in the slammer."

Jake, who wasn't confident that their performance today would grant them their freedom, had other plans. Plans somewhat along the lines of Feral's ideas about reverse-engineering the Turbokat. If they were going to go to jail, he wanted Megakat City left in the hands of Enforcers who were better-equipped than they were now. But that was for later... if they returned from this last mission alive.

Seeing that both of them were in agreement, Feral said, "Sergeant Brady will show you to the flight deck and provide you with anything you need."

"Just a second, Feral," said Jake, holding a finger up.

"Now what?" asked the Commander.

"Yeah, what is it, Jake?" asked Chance.

"We've gotta think this through."

"I know that," said Chance, "but in case you haven't noticed, time isn't something we've got a heck of a lot of."

"For once, I agree with Furlong," grumbled Feral, who felt that any delay was a waste of time.

"You do?" Frowning and looking positively shocked, Chance eyed the Commander in surprise, and the look was returned.

Shaking his head, Jake moved to step in-between them so as to make his intentions clearer. One thing he hated was people not understanding him.

Jake said, "Remember, if Dark Kat was behind the assassination attempt, then he's probably behind this UFO thing, too. And as far as we know, he thinks we're dead, so we have an element of surprise. One which will be blown bigtime if we go charging in there in the Turbokat."

"He's right," said Feral, who was finding his constant agreeing with the SWAT Kats slightly disturbing.

"But I still wanna use the Turbokat. Uh, Sort of. It all depends on how well Chance remembers flying an Enforcer jet, and whether Commander Sourpuss here-"

"Hey!" growled Feral.

"Sorry. And whether Feral can learn how to fly the Turbokat in less than a couple of hours..."  



	9. Enforcer Assault

The Fear Ship flew steadily but ponrderously across the bay towards Megakat City. Aboard, the Dark Kat led the way as a procession consisting of himself, Felina Feral and eleven Creeplings entered the control room. Each Creepling held a small laser rifle on the Enforcer lieutenant, who glowered angrily, her gaze burning into Dark Kat's back. He was aware but said nothing. Dark Kat's two technicians were so engrossed in their work they only barely glanced up at the group as they entered.

"Welcome to the nerve center of the entire Fear Ship!" announced Dark Kat thunderously. "From here, I can run the entire ship, and coordinate my armies."

"Your armies?" Felina repeated scornfully. There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She glanced around at the gun-toting Creeplings. "Forgive me, Dark Kat, but you may have armed your Creeplings with lasers and equipped them with the finest tactical gear in the world... but they're still Creeplings. Stupid, useless Creeplings."

Dark Kat turned toward her. To her surprise, he wasn't angry that she'd just insulted his long-suffering, faithful minions. On the contrary he was grinning broadly. She felt uneasy.

"Quite right, my dear," Dark Kat said. He walked over. "My Creeplings have indeed long since outlived their usefulness, and even with the advanced weaponry I've given them, the foolish little beasts can barely even deduce how to use them."

As if to punctuate its master's point, one Creepling, giggling, fired off a shot from its weapon because it squeezed the trigger too tightly. The laser bolt whizzed past Dark Kat and struck the wall. Growling, Dark Kat came over and swung his cane, swatting the offending little monster aside. It smacked into a control panel. Felina struggled not to laugh.

Turning back to her, Dark Kat's smile returned. "It is for this reason that I am working on a new breed of creature which will replace my Creeplings."

Felina didn't like the sound of that at all. Motioning, Dark Kat left the control room and proceeded down the stone steps into the alchemical laboratory that had been transplanted from Darkhaven. Felina was made to follow, prodded along by the overeager Creeplings, oblivious to their master's plans for them. In the lab, Felina stopped midway down the steps as she beheld what Dark Kat was talking about. Dozens of large glass cylinders filled with some kind of liquid lined the walls, and one was in the center of the room.

In each floated the form of a creature similar in appearance to a Creepling, but the size of a full-grown cat! Felina gasped. Dark Kat was engineering improved versions of his ghastly little monsters.

"Behold, my new, improved Mega-Creeplings!" Dark Kat boomed. "Twice the size of a normal Creepling, with triple the strengh! And more intelligent, as well. I've seen to that. Soon my army will awaken and with the help of my Fear Ship they will overrun Megakat City!"

Felina noticed a large, arcane-looking knife sitting on one of the wooden worktables. Dark Kat's back was to her. It would be easy, she thought, to run up and stab him before he had the opportunity to turn around. She was confident she could do it without the Creeplings managing to shoot her. But that would leave the problem of the Mega-Creeplings.

Probing for further information before making her move, Felina asked, "When will these things wake up?"

"In less than an hour," Dark Kat replied without turning around. He was staring intently into the nearest of the cylinders.

Felina grabbed the knife and charged at Dark Kat. As she predicted, the Creeplings, despite firing at her, missed, hitting the walls and ceiling instead. It was miracle they didn't hit any of the cylinders. But Dark Kat saw her reflection in the glass of the cylinder he was looking into and turned and batted her away one-handed. She flew over and thudded against the wall and slid down into semi-consciousness. Walking over, Dark Kat stood over her, glowering down at her.

"Such an unfortunate lack of vision you have, Lieutenant," he tsked. "All that talent and energy wasted. What a pity."

Bending down, he picked her up by one arm and hauled her to her feet as she struggled weakly.

"And now, Lieutenant, I think it's time we had a talk," Dark Kat said. "Although I could just use my Fear Ship to destroy it, I have my sights set on Enforcer Headquarters, rather than City Hall, as my new presidential palace once I have taken Megakat City. I'd like to take it as intact as possible. And to do this I need to learn the placements of all the defenses so I can destroy them, but leave the building itself intact."

"Never!" Felina snarled and kicked at him. Her blows landed dully against his leg without seeming to do anything.

"Oh, you'll talk," Dark Kat said. "You'll talk. Once I hook you up to my... little device."

Chuckling darkly, he pointed to a large metal table fitted with restraints with helmet-like device of some sort attached to the top, where the victim's head would go once they were strapped in. He was about to resume speaking when they heard footsteps and Marlow came running in, skidding to a halt at the top of the steps.

"Dark Kat!" he cried. "It's... It's..." He couldn't seem to choke it out.

"Oh, get it out!" Dark Kat grumbled.

"The SWAT Kats!" Marlow yelped.

"What?" Dark Kat roared and, letting go of Felina, ran up the steps at him. He seized the blonde-haired technician by the front of his uniform and threw him out the door, back into the control room. There was a muffled thud.

Felina attempted to rise but Dark Kat, again, anticipated her movement, and yelled for his Creeplings to restrain her. "Bring her!" he snarled. "Let her come and see the destruction of her precious SWAT Kats!"

Seven of the horrid things swarmed over Felina and held her firmly, and she half-walked and was half-dragged up into the control room. Marlow lay on the floor, dazed, and displayed on the big viewscreen was the Turbokat. Behind it was the surprising sight of an entire squadron of Enforcer jets! Several Creeplings at control stations of their own, directed by Zeckis, were hitting buttons randomly, firing every weapon the Fear Ship had at its disposal.

As Dark Kat and Felina watched, lasers flew wildly towards the approaching jets. A few of the Enforcer aircraft were struck and blown to molten chunks, but nothing seemed to be hitting the Turbokat.

Growling, Dark Kat said, "Forget about the Enforcers! Next to the SWAT Kats they're meaningless! Concentrate everything on the Turbokat!"

He turned towards Marlow, who had just recovered and risen to his knees, cowering before his master.

"I warned you not to fail me!" he yelled.

"It's not my fault they survived! Your Creeplings were the ones who failed, not me!" protested Marlow desperately.

Dark Kat flipped the top of his cane up and aimed it at the technician. A big bolt of electrical energy shot out and enveloped Marlow, who screamed as he was burned first to a skeleton, and then his skeleton crumbled into a pile of ashes on the floor. It happened so quickly that by the time Felina and Zeckis, engrossed in the battle happening onscreen, looked over, all they saw was the crumbling pile of smoking ashes.

"Someone always must pay the penalty for failure," said Dark Kat simply.

"Holy Kats!" cried Felina.

Paying what was left of Marlow no more mind, Dark Kat closed the top of his cane and turned back to the viewscreen. Finally a lucky beam struck the Turbokat. Felina whirled around again in time to witness this and cried out in surprise, watching as the SWAT Kats' jet, trailing smoke from the wing, flew down and out of the view of the Fear Ship's camera filming the battle.

She struggled fiercely against the Creeplings holding her, and managed to shake them loose and run and tackle Dark Kat, knocking him off balance. He threw her off and she landed hard against the floor and hit her head, blacking out completely.

The rest of the aerial battle went about the way Dark Kat anticipated. Deprived of the SWAT Kats, the Enforcers were quickly made into mincemeat by the Fear Ship's weapons. One jet in particular however gave the Creepling gunners more problems than the others. Its pilot was actually very skilled and dodged almost all of the lasers. Almost. One hit it and it, like the Turbokat, went into a spinning spiral and fell away past where it could be seen on camera.

The surviving Enforcer aircraft turned and flew away back towards Megakat City. Dark Kat chuckled, but did not celebrate. It was conceivable the SWAT Kats were still alive, however, as he perused the radar screen, he saw no sign of any other aircraft apart from the fleeing Enforcers. The Turbokat had disappeared. Either it had splashed down in Megakat Bay, or...

He spoke his thoughts aloud. "Either the SWAT Kats have finally been destroyed, or this is yet another one of their tricks. But I will remain on guard for the time being. And even if they're still alive, they'll be helpless against my Mega-Creeplings once they awaken. Besides, all of Megakat City has now seen the full power of my Fear Ship and only a fool would dare oppose me now."

Turning and looking at Felina lying on the floor out cold, Dark Kat said, "Take her back into the lab."

The Creeplings scurried to obey. They dragged Felina's limp form from the control room and down the steps into the alchemical laboratory. After a moment, Dark Kat remembered Zeckis and turned to him. The remaining technician stood trembling before his master.

"Ah, I almost forgot," he said. "It seems that by process of elimination, shall we say, you are in charge now. I trust you'll remember to do your very, very best."

With that, the huge purple feline turned and exited the room, leaving the cringing Zeckis to watch, sweating, as a Creepling used a small brush and a dustpan to sweep up the ashes of his former superior. 


	10. Boarding the Fear Ship

"Been a long time since I've been in an Enforcer jet," said T-Bone.

He and Razor were in the cockpit of one of the many two-seater Enforcer jets currently headed across Megakat Bay towards the approaching vessel from Anakata Island. In retrospect, he didn't miss it much. The jet was underpowered and too small for his tastes. He'd much rather be flying the Turbokat, and he told Razor as much.

"We need the Turbokat for a distraction," said Razor.

The Turbokat currently was in the lead with Feral flying. And it showed, thought T-Bone. Feral, used to the smaller Enforcer jets, was doing all right, but he was still flying pretty slowly. He wasn't putting the jet to its full potential.

"Remember," added Razor, "Dark Kat has to think it's us in that thing."

"Right, right," said T-Bone, grumbling.

All at once they heard Feral's voice on the radio. "Approaching Dark Kat's ship. Hope this plan of yours works, SWAT Kat!"

"Relax, Feral," said Razor. "Now, I recommend we open up on that thing as soon as we're in range. Without any parlay. I doubt Dark Kat would give us the same consideration, so I say we just let 'im have it."

"Just be careful," said Feral. "Don't hit anything vital. I don't want to destroy that thing. Yet."

"Don't worry," said T-Bone. "We aren't gonna blow that thing with Lieutenant Feral aboard."

"Right," said Razor.

Their plan was simple. Put Dark Kat on his toes again by using the Turbokat to reveal they were alive again. And while he was focused on the jet he thought contained them - when in fact it contained Commander Feral and Sergeant Brady - they, in an anonymous Enforcer jet, could slip in unnoticed and board Dark Kat's ship. It had taken a lot to convince Mills to let them attempt this, but in the end he'd agreed. One last hurrah, as T-Bone had put it. They'd gotten their masks, jumpsuits and gear back and returned to the hangar under Enforcer escort and gotten the Turbokat, and been well under way in less than an hour.

As the squadron of jets approached the Fear Ship, the Turbokat, with Sergeant Brady in Razor's place, fired the first volley of missiles, which hit the hull of the mammoth craft. Razor would've liked to have fired first, and indeed his finger itched, but he knew he had to control himself. As for T-Bone, Razor was amazed his partner had pushed the stick forwards and raced ahead of the other jets to attack recklessly head on yet. T-Bone's self-control so far was amazing.

The other jets, including T-Bone and Razor's, followed suit, and soon the Fear Ship was being pelted with laser fire. The bigger craft responded with artillery batteries and laser blasts of its own. The air was soon filled with explosions, flak and chunks of flying metal. In their lone, hopefully unnoticed jet, the SWAT Kats flew over the Fear Ship, towards the back.

As they flew past the Fear Ship, Razor observed from its sheer size and the amount of unmanned gun emplacements installed that Dark Kat put a lot of time and effort into this thing. It probably had enough firepower to destroy Megakat City all by itself, much less a few Enforcer jets. Even the Turbokat. Fortunately their plan wasn't to destroy it from the outside. Just to get in. And while certainly no match for Dark Kat's weapons, the Turbokat and the Enforcers were providing just the distraction the SWAT Kats needed.

During the battle, many Enforcer jets were destroyed. Razor had hoped the Enforcers would've backed off and retreated by now. They fought on relentlessly. Especially Feral. One laser blast nicked the Turbokat's wing, sending it flying out of control, but Feral managed to regain control as the jet nosedived towards the ocean. Watching it swoop off, trailing smoke, T-Bone grumbled.

"Feral's footin' our repair bill," he said. "That never would've happened without him flyin'."

But ultimately the Enforcers' bravery did not supersede their intelligence. Once the SWAT Kats were in the clear, and after the symbol of their defiance of Dark Kat, the Turbokat, was damaged and possibly almost destroyed, Feral gave the order for a retreat.

"Back to base. We'll prepare citywide defenses in case you SWAT Kats are unsuccessful."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Feral," said T-Bone.

"Just covering all my bases," said Feral. "Megakat City comes first."

"Right," said Razor, "and don't worry. Even if we can't stop Dark Kat from inside that thing, we'll definitely get Lieutenant Feral outta there. You've got my word on that."

There was no response from Feral but a grunt. Razor supposed that was as close to a thank you as they'd get in the meantime. Suddenly their world was thrown completely out of control. A lucky hit from one of the Fear Ship's defense batteries struck the Enforcer jet's tail, sending them into a spiral. Although T-Bone struggled he couldn't pull them out of the dive they were in.

"We're goners unless we bail, buddy!" T-Bone said as he watched the ocean rushing up to meet them.

Even as they were seconds from death Razor found this ironic. If they were in the Turbokat, T-Bone would've stubbornly tried to rescue the plane. But with them in an "expendable" Enforcer craft, he was, for once, the first to suggest bailing out. Fortunately, they'd always intended to do this. The canopy flew off and they ejected in their seats. The jet continued without them and became the latest addition to Megakat Bay's undersea graveyard of wrecked planes.

The SWAT Kats began to plummet after it, but did not deploy their ejector seats' chutes. Instead, they unbuckled themselves mid-fall and activated their jetpacks which they'd been wearing for the entire ride and which had made the already cramped cockpit more uncomfortable. They immediately rocketed up through the air, and headed off after the Fear Ship, which had passed over them during their descent.

As they caught up, T-Bone said, talking loudly above the wind, "I hope this works."

"It should," said Razor, also yelling. "We're a lot smaller than any jet so I doubt we'll show up on their radar."

"Unless Dark Kat is smart enough to program his computer to pick up anything as small as a bug. Then we're screwed."

"Well, we'll know soon enough," said Razor.

As they neared the rear of the ship, they felt the hot wind coming off the massive engines propelling it through the air. Razor led the way, having gotten a good look at the top of the thing as they'd flown over it, the pair zipping over the engines and over the top back portion. Disengaging their jetpacks, they thudded onto the hard metal. While it was certainly moving at impressive speed, the Fear Ship was considerably slower than a jet, allowing both vigilantes to stand atop it, the wind biting into them and making their jumpsuits and tails flap like flags, but not knock them down or even throw them off balance.

They approached a small utility hatch Razor had seen during their flyover a minute ago. He tried to turn the wheel to open it, grunting, but it seemed stuck. He was just about to employ the use of his Glovatrix when T-Bone tapped his shoulder. Razor looked at him.

"Allow me," said T-Bone, giving a regal bow.

"Be my guest," said Razor, stepping back.

Rubbing his hands together, T-Bone grabbed the wheel and turned it to no avail, then, blinking, tried it the opposite way. It gave and in seconds he'd spun it 'round and popped the hatch.

"Guess we were turnin' it the wrong way," he observed.

"After you," said Razor.

"Brains before beauty," said T-Bone.

"Real funny," replied the shorter SWAT Kat, and he then leaped down into the open hatchway and into the great unknown, T-Bone jumping down after him. 


	11. Birth of a New Nightmare

The two dropped down into a darkened hallway of some sort with a grilled floor and metallic walls. T-Bone landed first on both feet with a dull thud and Razor behind him with a softer sound. The duo poised for a moment to take in their surroundings before advancing slowly, T-Bone in the lead, their Glovatrixes raised. Ahead, they could see faint light. Around the corner to the right was more darkness, but to the left they could see the source of the illumination was coming from an adjacent room where the lights were actually on. The door was slightly ajar.

"I don't like this," whispered Razor.

"What's to like?" said T-Bone as the two headed towards the door.

Opening it, he found a brightly-lit stairwell with numbers on the walls apparently indicating what floor they were on. The twenty-seventh. The stairs led down. There was a ladder to one side leading to a hatchway, but that seemingly just went back to the roof, where they'd just come from. Nowhere to go but down. Turning and nodding to his partner, T-Bone went down first, taking point. Apart from the soft, velvety sounds their padded feet made on the polished metallic surface of the steps, the stairwell was eerily devoid of any sounds beyond the all-encompassing hum of the engines.

"Can we talk?" asked T-Bone softly during their downward journey.

"About what?" asked Razor.

"I dunno," said T-Bone. "About anything. This total silence is creepin' me out."

Razor shrugged. He would've preferred they keep totally silent, but he knew T-Bone got chatty when he was uneasy. Well, chattier than usual.

"So how 'bout Feral's offer?" the bigger cat inquired. "You think he meant it?"

"I guess," said Razor with certainty. When T-Bone paused briefly and glanced questioningly back at him, the thin cat said, "C'mon, it's Feral were talkin' about, T-Bone. If there's one positive thing I can say about the guy, it's that he's almost always honest. If he said he was gonna speak for us at the trial, he meant it."

T-Bone grumbled and continued on. "Y'know, we could always not go to trial. As soon as we rescue Lieutenant Feral and blast this hunk of junk out of the sky, what's stoppin' us from just blowin' this popsicle stand?"

"Feral has the Turbokat, for one thing," Razor pointed out, feeling a little uneasy that T-Bone's mind was once more turning to fleeing.

"Yeah, but who cares?" said T-Bone. "Let him keep it."

This time it was Razor who paused. Sensing that his partner had stopped moving, T-Bone also halted and turned to glance at him again.

"Who cares?" said Razor. "T-Bone, I never thought I'd hear you say that about the Turbokat."

T-Bone shrugged and tried to look indifferent, but Razor could tell his friend wasn't as entirely into the idea of just abandoning the Turbokat as he liked to pretend he was. "Yeah, well, if I had to choose between the Turbokat and goin' to prison for the rest of my nine lives, I'd just as soon prefer to stay free. Feral can keep the stinkin' thing."

"You act like it's a done deal," said Razor, frowning.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, T-Bone, we are not runnin' out. And that's the other thing that's stoppin' us, at least as far as I'm concerned. Because if we run off, then everyone in Megakat City, including Callie, is gonna think we're not only exactly the lowlife crooks Feral says we are... but cowards, too. No, T-Bone. We're gonna face the music. Let Feral and that rotten D.A. put us on trial if they want. But we are not running away like cowards, ya got that? 'Cause that's not who I am."

Coming down to where T-Bone stood, Razor prodded the taller cat's chest with his finger for emphasis. With a sigh, T-Bone nodded, knowing Razor was right. They'd honor the deal they'd made with Feral. Who knew? Maybe they'd even be found not guilty. Dropping the subject for now, the two continued on their descent.

They went down numerous floors and found a door on each. Every one opened onto an identical-looking hallway. Twice, they saw pairs of Creeplings walking around with the same type of miniature laser rifles the ones that had attacked them in the cell had. Apparently they were on guard duty. Although the SWAT Kats knew that armed with their Glovatrixes, they could easily take on the Creeplings, neither of them wanted to risk alerting Dark Kat to their presence until they were sure of where Felina was being held.

"We should try for the fourteenth floor," said Razor. "Based on what I could see of the ship exterior, I'm fairly certain that's the floor the control room is on."

"Roger," said T-Bone. "And what'll we do when we get there? This whole element of surprise gig is gonna be blown the second Dark Crud sees us. Which is kind of something we won't be able to avoid."

"Yeah," said Razor. "Well, as usual, I guess we'll just make it up as we go."

"Fair enough," said T-Bone. "It's never steered us wrong before."

He approached the door for the fourteenth floor as soon as they reached it, and eased it open a bit. There were two Creeplings, one of which was relatively close with his back to the door. The second one was facing the door but hadn't seen them yet. As the two tried to decide whether they should attack or wait for the Creeplings to move on, the farther of the Creeplings saw them and gave a sharp yap of surprise. Acting swiftly, T-Bone threw the door open completely. The first Creepling was starting to turn in response to its companion's cry, but before it knew what was happening, the door hit it. T-Bone threw the door against the wall with a loud, metallic bang, crushing the small pink monster between them.

Even as T-Bone was taking care of the first Creepling, Razor leaped past him and tackled the second one. He knocked the small creature's weapon aside and grabbed it by its winged arms and flung like a ragdoll against the wall with a rather unpleasant crunching noise. Released, it fell limply to the floor with its neck broken. Razor turned to see T-Bone checking behind the door and grimacing at the results of the smushed Creepling. The Creeplings really were fragile, borderline useless creatures, and both SWAT Kats wondered why Dark Kat insisted on using them as minions. Probably because they didn't need to be paid.

After taking a moment to prepare themselves for any further attacks, the SWAT Kats were relieved when no more Creeplings came. The hallway that they'd entered opened up into a larger antechamber adorned with demonic-looking statues to either side, flanked by enormous, ornate banners bearing Dark Kat's symbol: a huge, blood-red stylized "D."

"Dark Kat really ought to hire an interior decorator," said T-Bone. "His taste stinks."

Across the chamber were enormous doors that T-Bone guessed led to Dark Kat's control room. One was slightly ajar. He readied himself and prepared to rush in. Razor grabbed his arm.

"Hang on, T-Bone," he said. "First we scope the situation out more thoroughly. Remember, this is Dark Kat. His Creeplings may be borderline useless, even with their new and improved gear, but he isn't. We've learned that time and time again in the past."

"Right, buddy," said T-Bone, who was once more reminded not only of just how deadly Dark Kat could be, but also that if it wasn't for Razor's cool head and rational thinking, he'd have been dead a long time ago.

Razor went first, and went to the door. Leaning his shoulder against the one that was closed, he peered through the open one. T-Bone came up and got behind him, looking over the top of his friend's head. T-Bone's instinct had been right, as had Razor's theory about this floor. They looked into the massive, high-tech control room of the ship. Past banks of computers and various machines, they could see the impressive sight of Megakat City's steadily approaching skyline through the room's huge front windows.

The ship was run by Creeplings seated at every station, sitting in oversized chairs apparently intended for cats. However they were being directed by a thin cat wearing a purple uniform sporting Dark Kat's "D" on either bicep. There was no sign of Dark Kat himself, though.

"I'll take the Creeplings," whispered T-Bone. "You take that guy. We'll pump 'im for info about where the Lieutenant is."

"Roger," Razor whispered back.

Before either could move, though, they were startled as a Creepling at one of the foremost stations babbled something incoherant to get their overseer's attention. The technician went over and looked at the instruments. He nodded.

"Good work," he said to the Creepling, "we're arriving in the city sooner than expected. I'll go and tell Lord Dark Kat."

He turned and walked to the left of the SWAT Kats' view and out of their line of sight. This left only the Creeplings. They decided now it was time to act, while their enemies were still as yet unaware of their presence.

Kicking the door open, the vigilantes leaped inside and brought their Glovatrixes up. The Creeplings - five in all - reacted about the way Creeplings could be expected to act, by chittering and snarling in an agitated manner and flapping their wings. A few flew at them. Razor fired first, hitting two Creeplings that were crossing the room to him with his Mini-Cement Launchers. Both flew back and were stuck fast to the closest console. A third managed to avoid this barrage and landed on him, knocking him back. Razor fell over backwards and wrestled with the creature.

T-Bone meanwhile fired his Glovatrix's arsenal of Mini-Octopus Missiles at the other two Creeplings, both of whom had been slower than their companions and hadn't even left their stations. The first took an Octopus Missile in the face and was sent careening backwards. The second took one in the chest. Both ended up across the room, pinned viciously against the wall just underneath the viewing window. Turning, T-Bone first looked to see where the guy who'd been directing the Creeplings had gone to, and saw first what had to be Dark Kat's huge - and currently unoccupied - throne, as well as a doorless archway of some sort through which the cat had apparently gone.

Out of the corner of his eye, T-Bone saw Razor's predicament, lying on his back with the final Creepling biting and clawing him, and was in the middle of taking a couple of steps towards him to assist him when Razor took care of the last Creepling himself, shoving the Creepling off of himself. He seized it by the throat and throttled it, then tossed it aside and stood with some assistance from T-Bone.

"You okay, buddy?" asked T-Bone.

"Fine," said Razor, "but I think my flight suit is ruined." He glanced down at the partially shredded front of his outfit.

"Hey, we got spares," T-Bone assured him. "Now, I think that guy went through that big archway over there. Let's go and see if he gives guided tours."

They approached the arch. They could hear indistinct voices. A moment later, the purple-uniformed technician returned, smiling slightly, but his smile vanished when he saw the two intruders. He was about to shout for help when T-Bone clamped a hand over his mouth. He dragged him away from the archway and flung him aside so he ended up sitting in the throne.

He aimed his Glovatrix at the technician's startled face, keeping his hand firmly over his mouth. "Where's Lieutenant Feral?" he growled. "Point, don't talk."

The technician raised a shaking hand and pointed in the direction he'd come from. Nodding to Razor, T-Bone punched the other cat and either knocked him unconscious or just stunned him. He didn't remain to see which. Instead he simply followed Razor through the archway, and towards what he prayed was going to be the final showdown with the mortal enemy, the Dark Kat.

Down in the alchemical laboratory, a few moments prior, the twitching forms of Dark Kat's creations were stirring inside their glass tubes, attended to by the chattering Creeplings. However Dark Kat was not focusing on his soon to be born legion. They were in the back of his mind, but at the moment the hooded spectre was busy seeing to his "guest." The now awake Felina Feral lay strapped to the large metal table Dark Kat had shown her earlier. She pulled uselessly against the restraints as the villain slid the helmet-like device over her black-haired head.

"What is this thing?" Felina demanded.

"An alternative to many tedious hours of fruitless interrogation, Lieutenant," said Dark Kat, fitting the helmet snugly into place. Satisfied that it was on correctly, he stood back. "Since you've made it plain that you do not intend to willingly assist me, my brain-scanner will suck all the information right out of your head."

Turning, he approached the controls of the strange machine and flicked a couple of switches, causing beeping and humming noises to come from it. A moment or so into his preparations, Zeckis appeared at the top of the stairs. Dark Kat glanced up at him.

"What is it?" he asked. "Are we nearing the city?"

"Moments from it, sir," said Zeckis. "We're arriving over it even now. I've instructed the Creeplings to fly in a holding pattern over the business district, as you ordered me to."

"Good work, Number Three," said Dark Kat, pleased. "Go and keep them on track. Until my new creations are ready, I must rely on them and they get distracted so easily."

Zeckis nodded and then left to return to his duties. Dark Kat hummed pleasantly to himself as he finished readying the mind-scanning machine. He turned and looked at Felina.

"We're pressed for time, so this is, I confess, the option I would've chosen anyway," he continued. "I stole this technology from Professor Hackle. It will copy your brain patterns onto a computer disk and allow me to read it, much like a text computer file. Unfortunately for you, Lieutenant, the process will leave you quite dead."

Felina felt a cold horror creep over her. Not because she was afraid of dying, but because despite all of her efforts to resist Dark Kat, the fiend was going to learn all of the Enforcers' defense secrets anyway! She renewed her struggles against her bonds as she thought of her uncle dying at Dark Kat's hands. She'd give anything to get free and smash Dark Kat's face in! However, nothing she did would break the cuffs attached to her wrists and ankles holding her against the table. She tried to shake her head, thinking she could knock the helmet-like contraption off. No go. It was ficed so firmly she could only wiggle her head slightly from side to side.

"Relax," said Dark Kat as he stood with a clawed finger poised on the activation button. "The least I can do is assure you that the process is completely painless."

Before he had a chance to press the button, he heard a voice coming from atop the staircase. "Hold it right there!" T-Bone.

"SWAT Kats!" Felina cried happily.

"Hi, Lieutenant," said T-Bone, "sorry we're late." He moved down the steps a little. "Back away from her, Dark Crud."

Dark Kat sighed and turned to face the SWAT Kats, but obeyed, moving away from the table. "Can't you foolish SWAT Kats ever think of something else to call me?" he demanded, sounding annoyed.

"How about buttface?" T-Bone offered.

"I see childish insults are the height of your wit, T-Bone," Dark Kat said, edging over towards where his cane sat leaning against the wall. "You'd do well to take a page from your friend. He at least has something resembling intelligence."

He moved to grab the cane, but T-Bone fired a Mini-Match Head Missile. The cane and its concealed laser emitter were burned beyond use. Dark Kat snarled his fury. The two Creeplings who'd been assisting him whirled and snarled. They were poised to attack when their master held up a hand.

"Stop," he commanded. The Creeplings stopped mid-leap and shrunk back, cowering, looking confused and disappointed. Turning back to his enemies, Dark Kat felt his crooked, fanged maw twist into a smile as he continued obeying T-Bone's command to back away. If he couldn't use his cane, he had something else in mind. "I shouldn't be surprised... and yet you SWAT Kats continue to surpass all my expectations time and time again."

T-Bone started down the steps, focusing entirely on Dark Kat and Felina, his gaze shifting back and forth between them. For the time being, everything else in the room was immaterial to him, so it was the more observant Razor who lingered where he was and noticed the glass cylinders containing the shadowy forms first. He swallowed, hesitating. Whatever was inside them, they were rather large.

"T-Bone," he said, barely audible.

"Huh?" T-Bone responded, and then noticed the tubes, as well. "What in the world? Hey, Dark Kat, what the heck kinda freak show are you runnin' here? What are these things?"

Dark Kat said nothing. He continued backing away until he felt the closest of the cylinders against his back. The panel controlling the opening and closing of the containment units were to his right. Before either SWAT Kat realized what was happening, one of the large purple cat's fists slammed against the keypad. There was a mass beeping noise and the tanks all drained simultaneously. T-Bone and Razor stood openmouthed as the lids rose up giving them their first unobscured view of Dark Kat's latest experiment.

"Behold my Mega-Creeplings!" Dark Kat beamed. "Or, as I think I'll call them, my Stalkers!"

He approached the nearest one and patted it on its neck. They were all the same size as a fully-grown cat. Nowhere near as big as Dark Kat himself, but still impressively larger than the regular Creeplings. They had dark teal-blue skin and were finely muscled, but otherwise resembled little more than large-size versions of Creeplings. Nevertheless the "Stalkers" were huge and this was what counted.

"Kill them!" Dark Kat commanded, pointing at the two intruders. "Kill them and bring me their heads!"

The SWAT Kats both raised their Glovatrixes as the newly-released mutations all hissed and took a few shambling, uncertain steps forwards...  



	12. Mayor Manx's True Colors

T-Bone and Razor nervously backed up as the newly-released Mega-Creeplings - or "Stalkers," as Dark Kat seemed to want them to be called now - emerged from inside their stasis tubes, the embryonic fluids that they'd been immersed in still dripping off of their huge forms to puddle on the floor. Dark Kat continued stroking the neck of the one closest to him, as if it were a prized pet.

"Wow, Dark Kat, and I thought the regular Creeplings were ugly!" said T-Bone.

He gritted his teeth and raised his Glovatrix at the nearest of the creatures, who hissed and raised their clawed hands threateningly, allowing him and Razor to observe these lacked the winged underarms of the normal Creeplings. Just as well, he thought, they were so big and heavy it was doubtful they'd be capable of flight. Taking aim and determined to wipe the smug smirk off of Dark Kat's face by destroying the Stalkers before they'd even had a chance to attack, T-Bone launched a barrage of Mini-Octopus Missiles - his last ones, in point of fact - at them.

To his immense worry the missiles thudded against the creatures' broad chests and shattered, with the Stalkers only wincing and otherwise not betraying any sign that they'd been injured.

"T-Bone, might I suggest a strategic withdrawal?" Razor suggested.

"A good suggestion, buddy," T-Bone said and started back up the steps. Halfway up, he glanced back, as much to shoot Dark Kat a dirty look as to see whether he was being chased or not. None of the Stalkers seemed to have moved. "This isn't over, Dark Kat!" he yelled. "We'll be back!"

"Part of you will," Dark Kat, crossing his arms.

The SWAT Kats ran back through the open doorway and into the control room. After a moment, Dark Kat raised his arms and spread them wide, and his voice bellowed forth so even the fleeing SWAT Kats could hear him.

"Stop them!" he commanded. "With every means in my power!"

Issuing forth a unified shriek of fury and hunger, the assembled Stalkers charged in single-file after their prey, half dashing and half leaping up the steps.

Dark Kat watched them go and chuckled heartily. Rubbing his hands together, he turned and pushed the button on the mind-scanner. Felina winced and squirmed as she felt a sensation in her head that was difficult to describe. It started as a tingle, and soon was blossoming into a powerful sensation that made her imagine a gigantic plunger was being applied to her skull. She fought valiantly against the machine, but could feel things beginning to slip away, gradually. It was so distressing that despite the fact it didn't actually hurt, she cried out in dismay.

"And now, Lieutenant, just relax and let my wonderful little machine do its work," he said.

"You're finished, Dark Kat!" Felina managed to blurt out in-between her frantic gasps. "The SWAT Kats will destroy you! And if they fail, then you can bet my uncle won't!"

Dark Kat only grunted in response. He wasn't afraid of Feral and the Enforcers. The only ones capable of stopping him now, he knew, were currently fleeing for their lives from his latest and greatest creations. And despite only having a handful of them, he could and would grow more later.

"Now, I'll leave you alone with your thoughts. What little you have left. I must return to the control room and deliver my ultimatum to Megakat City. And pray, for your uncle's sake, if nothing else, that Mayor Manx has the good sense to accept my generous offer! I'll return after I'm through to check up your progress."

He exited. Felina watched him go with hate-filled eyes. She shut them and concentrated. As long as her willpower remained, she knew, she could hold off and resist the pull of the machine. It was her mind, after all. She couldn't hold it at bay forever, she realized, but certainly long enough to be rescued. And then, she would kill Dark Kat.

Returning to the control room, he found the SWAT Kats gone and all of his regular Creeplings dead. That left him with just his handful of Stalkers, and a few Creeplings scattered throughout the Fear Ship, including the two down in the laboratory. And of course Zeckis, who was rubbing his jaw as though he'd been punched. Dark Kat was most displeased.

"I see the SWAT Kats managed to get in here on your watch," he said.

Zeckis' eyes widened and he looked terrified for a moment, but then resigned, and hung his head. "Are you going to kill me now?" he asked timidly.

Dark Kat thought it over. He'd executed his other technicians for less. But, at the moment, with all of the control-room Creeplings dead, he needed Zeckis to run things for him. "Not now, there's work to be done," he said, and shoved Zeckis towards the controls. "Activate the holographic projector."

Meanwhile, Commander Feral returned to Enforcer Headquarters and landed the Turbokat on the runway. As he got out, he felt a little dizzy. The SWAT Kats' jet was quite powerful. More powerful than anything he'd ever flown before. Despite being an obsolete model, it seemed Jake Clawson's technical wizardry had allowed him to add engines more advanced than anything Pumadyne's propulsion think tank could invent.

As he headed towards the entrance, pausing to instruct a pair of officers to guard the Turbokat, Sergeant Brady came running over. "Sir," he said, saluting, "Mayor Manx has requested you go and see him immediately."

What did Manx want, Feral wondered, that was so important? Feral needed to be here to coordinate the defense of the city. He sighed. The Mayor was his superior. Nodding, he took the elevator down to the first floor where his car was waiting for him. A ten-minute drive to City Hall later and he was entering the Mayor's office.

Manx was sitting behind his desk, looking extremely annoyed. As Feral came in, Manx was noisily drumming his fingertips on his desktop. The Commander noted the presence of District Attorney Mills. Mills was frowning sourly and stood to one side with his arms crossed.

"What is it, Mayor?" Feral demanded. "In case you weren't informed, Dark Kat is about to attack Megakat City, and I need to be back at Headquarters dealing with this situation."

"He isn't here yet," Manx said curtly. "And we need to talk. District Attorney Mills here informs me that you made a deal with the SWAT Kats to get them off the hook. Is this true, Feral?"

Feral groaned. It seemed Mills had informed the Mayor of his conversation with the SWAT Kats. He shot the D.A. an angry look before returning his gaze to Manx.

"Not exactly. I merely said I'd speak favorably at their trial if they succeeded in stopping Dark Kat. Even I have to admit they're the best at what they do."

The Mayor stood abruptly and pounded his fist against the desktop and shouted, "Feral, those SWAT Kats have to go jail! My re-election is counting on it! Before you unmasked them in front of the entire city, I could support them and their vigilante activities, but I can't afford to be seen knowingly supporting them any longer now that everyone knows their true identities!"

Feral blinked. He'd always known Manx was a self-serving hypocrite but this was a new low for him. Despite everything they'd done for Megakat City, the Mayor was ready to cut his ties with the SWAT Kats and let them go down in flames. Enen Feral, who admittedly could barely tolerate the damage the SWAT Kats caused daily, was surprised by Manx's lack of loyalty. This was a side of the Mayor he'd never seen before.

"After Dark Kat is dealt with - by the SWAT Kats or by you, I don't care which! - I want you to re-arrest the SWAT Kats on sight! Do I make myself clear, Commander?" Manx demanded.

"Yes, Mayor," Feral grumbled. He didn't know why Manx needed to tell him to arrest them again when he saw them next time. He was planning to do that all along, and Manx should've known this.

"Good," said Manx, and sat down again. "I"m pleased we see eye to eye on this issue. Now, get back to Enforcer Headquarters and handle Dark Kat!"

Feral nodded and without another word turned and left the office. On his way out he encountered Callie Briggs. The blonde-haired Deputy Mayor's expression was a mixture of concern, anger and mild confusion.

"Listening at the door, Miss Briggs?" Feral asked.

"Sort of," Callie admitted, a little sheepishly.

Feral pushed past her and headed for the elevator, his annoyance turning into anger over the fact Manx had made him come here personally when Megakat City was in danger. Surely this little dressing down could've been done over the phone! Callie followed him and walked beside him, matching his stride.

"I heard what you and the Mayor were discussing," Callie said. "I have to admit I'm surprised."

"At what?" asked Feral, pressing the elevator's call button.

"You sticking up for the SWAT Kats," Callie said.

Feral shrugged as he waited for the elevator. "Even I have to admit that if they pull this one off, the least they deserve is my support, Deputy Mayor. But that's if they pull this off. Our intel reveals that Dark Kat's ship is many times bigger than anything he's ever used before. I doubt that even the SWAT Kats can handle him. And that's what frightens me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if they can't do it, what hope do my Enforcers have?"

Callie nodded solemnly. It wasn't that she lacked faith in Feral. Quite the opposite, her still present anger at him humiliating the SWAT Kats notwithstanding. It was more that she was concerned Feral wouldn't even get the chance. Knowing Manx, despite his tirade against the SWAT Kats, it was clear that the Mayor's only real hope for his city was in their hands. When and if they failed, Callie feared, Manx would immediately knuckle under and surrender to Dark Kat, without letting the Enforcers even have a token attempt at stopping him.

"Don't worry, Deputy Mayor," Feral said. The elevator doors opened and he stepped through them. "No matter what happens, my Enforcers will do everything in their power to protect Megakat City from Dark Kat."

The doors slid shut and cut them off from one another. Callie sighed and then turned and looked down the hall. She could see Mills and Manx discussing something inaudible in Manx's office, through the open door. Mills was just trying to do his job, she knew, but Mayor Manx was looking like he was soon going to replace Commander Feral as her chief nemesis in the defense of the SWAT Kats.

Noticing her staring at him, Manx got up and came over to the door, shutting it so Callie couldn't observe any more of their conversation. Great, she thought, now he was keeping her out of the loop. Who knew what he and Mills were scheming?

She decided to return to her office. Idly, she entertained contacting the SWAT Kats with the communicator, which hadn't been confiscated from her yet, although Manx had mentioned that Mills might want it for evidence at the trial. Idly, Callie wondered whether Mills might want to also charge her as an accomplice? She didn't think he would. Doing so would open a whole can of worms Manx would rather stayed shut, for he, Feral and others were equally guilty of enabling the SWAT Kats to continue operating.

In the end, as she entered her office, Callie decided not to contact the SWAT Kats. She had nothing new to tell them. At least, nothing that couldn't wait until later, if later even occurred. Besides, she imagined they didn't need to be distracted right now. 


	13. Stalker Fight

Racing back through the antechamber, Razor was beginning to regret having charged in to confront Dark Kat directly. In his eagerness he had, once again, underestimated their most dangerous enemy. Well, one of them. In hindsight, he half-jokingly thought that retirement from being a SWAT Kat wouldn't be such a bad thing. It would certainly mean having to deal with considerably less monsters and villains. On the downside, it meant jail time. But it wasn't like they had a choice. Besides, he reasoned, now wasn't the time for decision-making. Now was the time for action.

Action they were getting. In fact, they got it as soon as they reentered the antechamber. Those two huge statues suddenly came alive. Their stone heads tilted up, eyes aglow with purple fire. Razor noticed out of the corner of his eye and was able to alert T-Bone before lasers fired at them. The two nimble vigilantes dodged as the lasers struck the floor, creating a huge hole. T-Bone rolled to one side, righted himself, and took aim at the statue on the left.

"Mini Turboblades!"

The Turboblades flew out and decapitated the statue. The purple in its eyes dimmed as it rolled off its shoulders and it had the good fortune of landing on the first of the Stalkers as they came charging headlong into the room. The first of Dark Kat's "greatest creations" was completely crushed into a gooey pulp.

Its comrades didn't heed it and simply ran around the fallen statue head, and came running at T-Bone. One got struck and incinerated by the laser beams fired by the remaining statue, but T-Bone had little time to chuckle at how, so far, Dark Kat's defenses were doing a better job of eliminating his new creations than either he or Razor were before the other Stalkers were upon him. He tried to raise his Glovatrix, but was dogpiled.

Razor, meanwhile, was handling the statue on the right. He nimbly leaped left and right to avoid its lasers. He wasn't unaware of the incoming Stalkers, and certainly didn't notice that one of the laser blasts he was dodging took out one of the mutants behind him, so focused was he on getting rid of the pesky statue. He aimed with his Glovatrix.

"Mini Cement Launchers!"

He fired even as two Stalkers tackled him from behind. He was down on the floor underneath them, feeling their fists pummelling him. He'd hit his mark, though. The globs of cement splattered over the statue's purple eyes. It tired to fire another volley, heedless of the Stalkers, but the cement gumming its eyes up made its head suddenly erupt in a massive purple fireball, raining chunks of stone all over the room. One of the "D" emblazed banners caught on fire.

Razor struggled with his two attackers, but they were just too big and strong. He kicked out at one, hitting it in the abs, but this only mildly annoyed it and hurt Razor's foot. He cried out in pain. He slashed with his claws at the face of the other one, and shredded its left cheek into ribbons. Greenish blood trickled forth and the Stalker shrieked and reeled back, clutching at its face. So, at least, these monsters weren't indestructible. His efforts to repeat this process with the first Stalker were stymied when that monster, proving a quick learner, grabbed his wrists, crushing his Glovatrix in the process.

"T-Bone!" he yelled.

"I got my own problems right now!" T-Bone yelled back from beneath four of his own Stalkers.

He struggled, and, grunting, planted a foot on each of the stomachs of two of the creatures. Grabbing the other two and pushing off of them with his hands, he was able to get enough leverage to shove out with his legs, and propel the first two Stalkers backwards with his feet. They went staggering off and T-Bone felt his knee joints pop. Dang, he was gonna feel that in the morning. If the morning ever came. The first Stalker fell through the hole the statue's eye lasers had made; the second one crashed directly into the statue itself, and the impact cracked the base. The statue teetered precariously and began to tilt, gaining momentum as it fell forwards, towards Razor and the Stalkers he was fighting.

Razor saw it coming and prepared to be crushed to death along with his opponents. Instead, the headless statue collided with its equally decapitated brother across the room, shattering its upper extremeties. Pieces of statuary fell down towards them. They all looked up. One large chunk clunked Razor's first Stalker on the head. It remained standing, but was dazed enough for Razor to wiggle free of the second Stalker, who was still looking up, and give the dazed first one a shove, sending it careening against the wall, leaving a big dent in the metal. Turning to the second Stalker, who was in the process of looking back down at its prey, Razor aimed his Glovatrix at its face.

"Mini Tarpedoes!"

There was a fizzle. He realized with horror that the weapon was crushed. All that happened was the Tarpedoes exploded harmlessly while still in the Glovatrix's missile port. Tar began to ooze and dribble from the device. The Stalker raised an eyebrow at this. Razor grinned sheepishly, but then flicked his wrist, sending gobs of tar into its eyes. With a yowl, the Stalker's hands flew to its face and it began trying to wipe the tar out of its eyes. Failing that, it swiped blindly at the air. Hearing a grinding noise, Razor looked up and beheld the tilted statue beginning to slide further down as the one it was leaning against crumbled further. With a groan it gave way and plummetted towards them, accompanied by the raining chunks of its brother.

Razor leaped out of the way, leaving the two Stalkers to meet their fate. The blinded one was flattened by the headless first statue and the dazed one to get buried beneath the falling chunks of the second statue. He then turned his attention to T-Bone. The Stalker whose impact against its base had made the first statue teeter and fall was getting up, and T-Bone was no closer to being free of the other two. With a sigh, Razor charged full force at them, determined to rescue his partner.

He ducked his head and rammed into the closest one. He saw stars and was thrown off balance, and felt and heard his flight helmet crack. Fortunately, his action had the desired effect. The Stalker crashed into its companion and both tumbled off of T-Bone and rolled away into the wall. Razor staggered a bit, then fell backwards onto his butt.

"Wow!" cried T-Bone. "Nice headbutt, there, buddy!"

He noticed the one over by the statue base starting to get up, and took aim with his Glovatrix and fired. The Stalker was stopped mid-rise by a humungous glob of cement which threw it against the statue base and hardened, holding it there as it struggled. T-Bone stood and walked over to Razor.

"Are you all right?" he asked gingerly.

"I think so," mumbled Razor, squinting at his partner. "But when did you get an identical twin?"

T-Bone chuckled. He hadn't thought the smaller SWAT Kat would've had it in him to knock two huge opponents off balance like that with a mere headbutt. Razor was lucky he hadn't broken his neck. He offered him his hand, which Razor took, and he hauled his friend to his feet. They turned and surveyed the destruction in the room as Razor tried to shake the dizziness from his head, his broken helmet rattling.

"Not bad," said T-Bone, "but I think we can do a little more damage before we have to go to court. May was well leave Dark Kat with a heck of a repair bill."

"And what about Felina?" asked Razor. "We can't just leave her."

"I know," said T-Bone, "but in case you forgot, Dark Kat's back in there with her. And who knows how many more of these things he has!" He made a sweeping gesture at all of the dazed and slowly-recovering Stalkers. "Besides," he added glumly, "we kind of blocked the door."

Both SWAT Kats looked at the fallen statue which was now blocking the entrance to the control room.

"Right," said Razor, trying to figure out a plan. He needed to get to a computer. Going back into the control room at the moment wasn't an option, and the hallway to their right was the way they'd come in and he hadn't seen any computer terminals. Turning, he eyed the hole that the statue's eye-lasers had created and snapped his fingers. "Come on," he said, "we're gonna take an alternate route!"

And none too soon, thought T-Bone, who noticed that the Stalkers were beginning to get back up. Rushing over, the SWAT Kats stood at the precipice and then jumped as one down into the blackness. Into the unknown again, thought T-Bone.

Meanwhile, Commander Feral returned to Enforcer Headquarters and fought his way through the mob of press, protestors and fans of the SWAT Kats massed outside. He was up to the top of the steps when he heard a deep rumbling sound overhead. The noise of the crowd slowly died down and everyone glanced up and beheld the massive form of Dark Kat's ship appearing. The citizens began dispersing and running in terror in all directions.

"Crud!" Feral grumbled and ran inside.

Time was running out! Curse Manx for making him come all the way down to City Hall! He took an elevator up to Enforcer Headquarters' central operations room. This was a large control center with a spotlessly polished metal floor and rows of computers. There was a floor to ceiling 3-D computerized map of Megakat City. A red dot indicated the position of Enforcer Headquarters, whilst a blue dot indicated the position of Dark Kat's ship.

"Report!" Feral barked at a female technician.

"The unknown object-" she began.

"Dark Kat's ship," Feral interjected insistently.

"I mean Dark Kat's ship is approaching Enforcer Headquarters," the technician said.

Tell me something I don't know, Feral wanted to say, glancing up at the map. The blue dot was right on top of the red one. Suddenly, the map fizzled and the screen went blank and was replaced by the leering purple visage of Dark Kat. Feral gritted his teeth.

"Dark Kat!" he snarled accusingly.

"Greetings, Commander Feral," Dark Kat said affably, although it didn't seem as if he heard him. "And my very special greetings to the rest of Megakat City, as well. This live message is being broadcast throughout the entire city, but I am especially addressing Commander Feral and Mayor Manx."

He stood back a bit revealing, behind him, the bound form of Felina Feral strapped down to some kind of table. A helmet-like device was attached to her head. She didn't seem to be in any pain or distress, but Feral betted that was soon to change. Someone cried out in alarm and the female technician covered her mouth in surprise. Feral himself took an involuntary step back, mouth agape.

"I have your niece, Commander," said Dark Kat, pointing at Felina. "She is my prisoner and I am in the process of extracting some very important information about Enforcer Headquarters from her. If you wish me to spare her life, then I suggest you stand down and make no efforts to attack my Fear Ship or otherwise impede my takeover. Do I make myself clear?"

Feral stammered, speechless, unsure of what he'd say, even if Dark Kat could hear him. He had suspected and feared Felina was a prisoner, but not this!

Dark Kat continued, "I'll let you think on it. And as for you, Mayor..."

In his office at City Hall, Mayor Manx sat behind his desk watching the same broadcast on a small luxury portable TV. District Attorney Mills was standing opposite and couldn't see the screen.

"And as for you, Mayor," Dark Kat said, stepping back up so his hulking frame blocked Felina Feral from view once more.

"Huh?" cried Manx, as Mills came around the desk to see what was on the screen.

Dark Kat continued. "You are to ensure that the Enforcers make no move against me, just in case my holding Commander Feral's niece isn't enough of an incentive for him to stand down."

"I am?" Manx mumbled, confused.

"Megakat City is mine!" growled Dark Kat. "Now and forever!"

"What are you going to do?" asked Mills, still looking at the TV. "You aren't really going to make the Enforcers stand down are you?" Manx didn't reply. "Well?"

He finally took his eyes off the screen and turned, to find Manx's chair empty and still spinning. Blinking, he managed to just catch a glimpse of the Mayor rushing wildly out of the office.

"Mayor!" Mills yelled. "Where are you going?"

In the hallway, Callie Briggs was coming out of her office, Dark Kat's message playing on the TV there, too, to encounter the Mayor. He was running towards the elevator, holding onto his toupee, his golf bag slung over his shoulder.

"Mayor, wait!" she cried.

He ignored her and skidded to a halt at the elevator and frantically pressed the call button.

"Come on," he whimpered, "come on!"

Callie came rushing up. "Mayor, what are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing?" he screamed. He was beyond hysterical. "I'm getting out of here while the getting's good! And if you're smart, you'll come with me!"

Callie was aghast. "But what about Megakat City?" she demanded.

"Dark Kat can have it!" Manx yelped.

He pounded on the call button again, and, the elevator taking too long for his liking, looked left and right, then saw the stairs. He bolted for them and threw open the door, and was gone, disappearing into the stairwell. Callie fumed. Turning on heel, she went into his office and found District Attorney Mills standing there looking confused and afraid.

"Come on," she said. "We need to get someplace safe, and right now Enforcer Headquarters is our best bet!"

Back at Enforcer Headquarters, Feral seethed with rage at Dark Kat as the transmission continued.

"Megakat City is mine!" Dark Kat was declaring boldly. "Now and forever! I issue this warning once and only once! The SWAT Kats have tried and failed to stop me, and my Fear Ship will crush any and all opposition! Any such attack against me will result in the immediate execution of Lieutenant Feral and the complete destruction of Megakat City!" He concluded with, "Dark Kat, now and forever emperor of Dark Kat City, out!"

Behind him, Feral heard his niece's pained yet defiant voice cry out, "Don't listen to him, Uncle! He's going to kill me anyway! Attack! Attack and destroy this entire thing!"

The transmission ended just as Dark Kat was turning away from the camera and roaring at her to be quiet, and the screen returned to show the Megakat City map. The blue dot of Dark Kat's ship was now moving away from the red Enforcer Headquarters dot. Feral growled and brought up his baton, and bent it, snapping it in half, making the assembled technicians flinch. He was beyond enraged now.

"What do we do, sir?" asked the female technician uncertainly.

"Destroy Dark Kat," said Feral, tossing the halves of his broken baton aside. He balled up his fists. To hell with Manx's orders, if he even gave them. "The SWAT Kats had their chance! I want an entire squadron in the air at once! We're going to blast Dark Kat right out of the sky!"

"But Lieutenant Feral!" cried another, male technician.

"You heard her!" snarled Feral. "Dark Kat's going to kill her anyway! And if he does, then I want the satisfaction of knowing he dies burning in the wreckage of his crashing ship! Now, get the pilots to their fighters, on the double!"

For the second time in a scant few minutes - or however much time had passed since their arrival - the SWAT Kats landed in a darkened hallway. It was a much longer fall than before and only the fact they were used to jumping long distances prevented them from spraining or breaking anything. It was still a rough landing, though, and T-Bone's knees still ached like crazy from the force he exerted earlier.

In the dim light provided by the hole above them, they found the Stalker that T-Bone had knocked down here earlier, lying sprawled on its back on the floor. T-Bone gently nudged at it with his foot and it shifted and rolled over with a growl, but didn't get up.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he flipped on the triangular light on his helmet, illuminating the dark utility tunnel. There were lights affixed to the walls, but they weren't turned on. Beside him, Razor tried to activate his own helmet light, but it fizzled out, due to the damage the helmet sustained. He frowned and removed it.

"Okay, Sureshot, what's this big plan of yours?" asked T-Bone.

Razor inspected his cracked helmet for a little longer before tossing it aside. He also, with some effort, removed his crushed Glovatrix. "Crud, this thing's had it," he said. He threw it down angrily.

"Relax," said T-Bone, flexing his arm to show his own still intact Glovatrix. "Mine's still workin'. So, I repeat, what's the plan?"

"Well, we find a computer terminal for me to access so I can find a way to bring this thing down," said Razor confidently. "Then, we get back and rescue Felina."

"Hopefully not in that order," T-Bone said as he started off down the tunnel, disliking the idea of trying to rescue Felina while the ship was in the middle of crashing.

"Of course," said Razor sheepishly as he followed T-Bone's lead. "I think out of order sometimes, is all."

"Don't I know it!" mumbled T-Bone.

The tunnel opened out onto a catwalk moving over several huge vats of what, at first, appeared to be molten metal. The heat was tremendous. Immediately upon entering, the two SWAT Kats could feel their fur and flight suits beginning to dampen with sweat. Light was provided by the glowing contents of the huge vats, so T-Bone flicked off his headlamp. They proceeded cautiously across the catwalk. There was a single Creepling wearing a little hardhat but his back was to them.

T-Bone rushed it, seized the pink little monster up, and flung it over the railing. Its momentum prevented it from taking flight and it splashed into the superheated liquid beneath. Leaning over to watch it splash down, T-Bone blinked.

"What is this stuff?" he asked as Razor joined him. "Liquid metal? Is Dark Kat running some kinda smelting factory?" He dimly recalled the gold foundry from Darkhaven Manor all those years ago.

"No," said Razor, "this isn't molten metal, it's lava!"

He rushed along the catwalk, found a ladder, and climbed down it. T-Bone followed.

"Lava?" he yelled in surprise. "What in the heck is he doing with lava on board his ship?"

Razor didn't answer just yet, instead approaching a nearby computer terminal. He turned it on and snorted derisively at the "D" insignia desktop background. T-Bone was anxious. He kept glancing back up at the catwalk, and the tunnel they'd emerged from, wondering why the Stalkers from before hadn't followed them. He didn't like hanging around in this dangerous place in one spot for too long. Still, Razor had wanted a computer to work with, and so T-Bone dutifully stood guard while his partner typed away feverishly, accessing various subdirectories and examined various files.

T-Bone wandered around, doing a little patrol of the room to ensure there weren't any more Creeplings. He found none. He did however find an elevator on the opposite side of the room. Eventually, Razor found what he was looking for and summoned T-Bone back over.

"Whoa," he said, looking at the computer screen, "Dark Kat's using geothermal power to run this thing!"

T-Bone blinked, remembering how they'd used superheated volcanic gasses to power the Turbokat once, when the Pastmaster propelled them back into prehistory. He thought it was a dangerous idea then, and, despite the fact it amazingly had worked at the time, his opinion of using lava to power a vehicle hadn't changed. He felt uneasy, as though the Fear Ship was a gigantic time bomb just waiting to explode with them still in it and rain lava down over Megakat City. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

"Well, okay, that answers that question," Razor said, "and now how about finding an alternate way to get back up and get the Lieutenant."

"Shockingly, we don't need the computer for that," said T-Bone, and pointed over at the elevator he'd noticed earlier.

Razor chuckled and slapped his friend on the shoulder. He turned the computer off. As they turned to go, they heard growling, and, glancing over, saw four Stalkers come charging out of the tunnel and onto the catwalk above them.

"Razor, run and get in the elevator!" T-Bone yelled.

Razor raced over, and hit the call button. T-Bone knelt and took aim with his Glovatrix. He fired a Mini Bola, which wrapped itself around the ankles of the lead Stalker. It pitched forward mid-run and landed so hard the entire catwalk rattled. The Stalker right behind it tripped over it, and likewise fell. The other two leaped over their fallen companions however and continued charging. T-Bone fired again, but missed, and the two Stalkers reached the leader.

"Crud," he grumbled and quickly checked his Glovatrix's weapons inventory. He was almost out of any really useful ammo. He has just two ordinary explosive missiles left. "What I would've give for a reload!"

Glancing up, he watched as the first Stalker didn't bother using the ladder and simply did a flying leap off the walkway to land standing in front of him so hard that T-Bone stumbled back, and the Stalker's feet left imprints in the metal deck plating. Growling, T-Bone aimed with his Glovatrix and fired the first of his only two remaining missiles. The Stalker was hit dead center and T-Bone immediately wished he'd waited until he'd put some distance between himself and his target because upon violently exploding, its slimy green guts splattered all over the thoroughly startled SWAT Kat.

"Aw, gross!" T-Bone yelled.

The second Stalker had actually clambered down the ladder, its weight causing the ladder to break away from the walkway and come off as the mutant was halfway down. It thudded to the floor a few feet away from T-Bone. Up above, the third Stalker was getting up, and the fourth was wrenching itself free of the bola. T-Bone struggled to stand, but lost his footing and slid in the slime.

Still sitting down, he took aim at the second Stalker as it got up and stomped over towards him. Seeing his weapon, though, it hesitated. Gritting his teeth, the SWAT Kat fired. He worried that the dead Stalker's innards would've slimed up the Glovatrix and prevented it from firing. It would either simply click uselessly, or it would explosively backfire, depriving T-Bone of his hand and much of his forearm. Amazingly, though, the missile fired successfully.

It didn't matter, though, as the Stalker, which had observed the fate of its predecessor, leaped aside, and the missile hit and exploded the nearest of the vats. T-Bone's eyes widened as the side of the huge container exploded, spewing boiling-hot lava forth in a geyser! Alarms began to sound.

"Oops," T-Bone muttered.

The entranceways all began slamming shut. Apparently, an automatic containment system was being put into place, and if the SWAT Kats didn't leave quick, they'd be trapped in here with all this lava! T-Bone watched as the lava hit the Stalker who had dodged, and the thing gave a mournful howl of agony as it was set afire and sank slowly to its hot death in the magma flow. T-Bone shuddered.

Standing more carefully this time, he was able to avoid slipping, and hurriedly hopskotched over to the elevator where Razor waited, holding the elevator doors open for him. They both got in and the doors slid shut just as the other two Stalkers hopped down from the catwalk on the side opposite the lake of lava.

"Smooth move, T-Bone," Razor said, leaning his elbow against the wall.

"Hey, it was an accident," said T-Bone. "Besides, you're the Sureshot, not me."

He pressed the button for the fourteenth floor, three floors above them. Nothing happened.

"Great," said Razor, "the containment system must be preventing the elevator from moving. Here, give me a boost."

T-Bone helped him up so he could open the emergency access hatch on the elevator's roof. Once Razor was up, he offered his hand down to T-Bone. Just then, something started banging violently against the closed elevator doors. The Stalkers. Apparently, despite Dark Kat's claims about all their intelligence, they didn't know how to push buttons just yet. T-Bone grabbed Razor's hand and was yanked upwards. He was climbing through the hatch when clawed fingers forced their way between the seams of the closed elevator doors, and then the Stalker grunted and forced the doors apart. T-Bone slammed the hatch shut.

"That's not gonna hold them!" said Razor.

"I got a way to take these guys out," said T-Bone, and flipped up his Glovatrix's blowtorch mechanism. "Hold tight to me."

Razor threw his arms around T-Bone's waist, as his partner activated the blowtorch. Grabbing the elevator cable with one hand, he touched the torch's flame to it, just as the hatch flew open and one of the Stalkers poked its head up.

"Going down, ugly?" he taunted.

The cable snapped, and the elevator car, with its Stalker occupants, dropped down the darkened shaft, leaving T-Bone hanging by the cable one-handed and Razor clinging to his waist. Hurriedly, T-Bone used his other hand to grab the cable. Razor climbed up ahead of him so he wasn't weighing his partner down, and the two began their ascent.

"Dark Kat, here we come!" growled T-Bone. 


	14. Callie Briggs, Acting Mayor

As Callie Briggs and District Attorney Mills got off the elevator, they found the lobby desserted. Outside, they could see Manx's limousine parked at the curb. Some Enforcer cruisers flew past, sirens wailing. They ran outside and down the steps towards the limo. There was no sign of the chauffeur and the front passenger door hung open. Dark Kat's Fear Ship filled the sky ominously.

"What do we do?" whimpered Mills.

"We can take my car!" Callie said.

She led the way into the City Hall parking garage. Her green sedan was the only car left, apart from two others, one of which was Mills' own luxury sports car. Mills started for it, but then stopped, and came over to Callie's car. Callie figured the District Attorney didn't want to ride alone. She and Mills got inside and, sticking her key in, she fired up the engine and floored it, smashing through the front gate and careening out onto the street.

"What about Mayor Manx?" Mills asked, concerned, glancing back at the limousine still sitting at the curb.

"He's just going to have to fend for himself," Callie said angrily, and swung the corner, headed in the direction of Enforcer Headquarters several blocks away. "He deserves no less for abandoning both Megakat City and the SWAT Kats the way he did."

Mills found he couldn't argue with that, and sat nothing for the remainder of their drive.

A few minutes after they were gone, Mayor Manx came staggering out of the front entrance of City Hall, his toupee askew, panting, out of breath from lugging the weight of his golf bag down all those flights of stairs. Managing to make it to the bottom of the steps, he paused for a breather, taking the golf bag off and setting it down. He noticed his chauffeur was gone, and grumbled in irritation.

Taking his hairpiece off, he wiped his bald spot with a handkerchief, before looking up and noticing the Fear Ship. With a squeal, he put the toupee back on backwards and bolted for the limo, then stopped, remembered the golf bag, and went back for it. He shoved it into the open front passenger door, buckling its seatbelt. Then slamming the door, he went and got behind the wheel.

There were no keys, and he pounded the steering wheel in frustration. Suddenly, he heard scuffling feet, and his chauffeur appeared, out of uniform, headed for the parking garage. Manx beeped the horn, and rolled the window down.

"Hey, you!" he yelled, having never remembered his driver's name. "Get over here! You've got to get me out of here!"

The chauffeur stopped, looked at him, then elected to keep running.

"Wait! Come back!" Manx wailed.

At that, the chauffeur stopped and ran back over. Manx grinned and started to get out so he could go and get in the backseat, but, instead, the chauffeur just fished the limo keys out of his pocket and threw them to him. Manx caught them.

"Get yourself outta here!" the chauffeur said. "I quit!"

With that, he whirled and took off again, and this time, he kept going.

"You ungrateful little-!" Manx yelled impotently.

Growling, he got back in and started the limo up and threw it into reverse. He didn't intend to follow Callie. Instead, he swung the limo around and drove in the opposite direction, towards the city limits. He was getting out of Megakat City!

Traffic was light getting to Enforcer Headquarters. The Enforcers were keeping people off of the streets. There was a barricade being manned by Sergeant Brady when they arrived, and Callie slid her car to a stop at it, and she and District Attorney Mills got out. Brady seemed surprised but glad to see them. Callie especially.

"Deputy Mayor, District Attorney," he said, "You'd better come quick. Don't tell him I told you this, but Commander Feral is about to do something quite foolish."

"More foolish than sending the SWAT Kats to do the Enforcers' job?" Mills grumbled and crossed his arms.

Callie shot him a fierce look, and he grinned sheepishly and shrugged. Shaking her head, she turned back to the Sergeant, who gestured for them to come with him. He left a subordinate officer in charge and the three of them ran inside. There were a number of civilians in the lobby, mostly consisting of the crowd who had gathered outside from before, huddling in here from the shadow of the Fear Ship outside. District Attorney Mills elected to stay in the lobby with the other people, and Callie accompanied Sergeant Brady upstairs to the central operations room herself.

"He's going to attack Dark Kat head on again!" said Brady. "And this time, it's not going to be just a distraction, but the real deal."

Callie frowned. "Why are you telling me?"

"Well, you being the Deputy Mayor and all, I sort of was hoping you could get the Mayor to see clear to-"

Callie coldly cut him off. "Manx isn't the mayor anymore."

"Huh?" Brady gulped.

"He pretty much resigned about ten minutes ago. The last time I saw him, he and his precious golf bag were running off into the horizon."

She put her hands on her hips as it seemed to fully sink in for her that with Manx gone, with officially or unofficially, this left her solely in charge of Megakat City. The second Manx had taken his golf bag and ran, Callie had gone from being deputy mayor to acting mayor. The Sergeant seemed to realize this, too.

"I see," he said. "Then I guess that makes you..."

"Acting mayor," Callie said. "Until Manx comes back, anyway."

She wasn't smug or proud about it, and, in fact would've preferred to avoid it. But it was either take on the responsibility or leave Megakat City at Dark Kat's mercy.

"Yes ma'am!" Brady said, snapping immediately to attention. "Then allow me to rephrase. You being the acting mayor and all, perhaps you, then, can see clear to call the Commander off of this suicide mission of his."

She nodded. "Where is he?"

"On the runway," Brady said. "If you hurry, you can catch him!"

Callie turned and ran through the building, taking the elevator to the elevated runway of the building, but she was seconds too late. She watched a large squadron of Enforcer jets, likely including Feral's, in the midst of taking off. They left the runway and soared into the sky. She sighed. Feral was going to get himself and his niece killed, and Dark Kat's retaliation would cost hundreds more innocent lives!

She returned to the operations room. Her frown told Sergeant Brady all he needed to know. Approaching a female technician, she said, "Get me Commander Feral."

In his jet at the head of his squadron, Commander Feral gritted his teeth resolutely as he watched the Fear Ship growing steadily in size, the closer they got to it. He switched on his radio to all frequencies, addressing his men.

"Commander Feral to all squadron members. I will attempt to contact Dark Kat and elicit a surrender and the safe return of Lieutenant Feral. If negotiations fail, engage and destroy. I repeat, engage and destroy."

In the alchemical laboratory aboard the Fear Ship, Dark Kat divided his time between preparing to grow a new batch of Stalkers, and keeping an eye on the captured Felina Feral. She was putting up quite a magnificent fight against the mind-draining machine, struggling and moaning. She was far stronger than he'd anticipated and it was going to be some time before he had fully retrieved all of the information he wanted from her.

Suddenly, there was a muffled but powerful explosion which rocked the ship. It sounded like it came from somewhere down below. Zeckis came running down the stairs, waving his arms franatically.

"Dark Kat!" he cried, and Dark Kat fully expected a report on the SWAT Kats' survival. Instead, Zeckis had different news to deliver. "The Enforcers!"

"What about them?" Dark Kat asked.

"They're approaching our position again!" Zeckis said.

"They mean to attack us?"

Zeckis shrugged. "No, master, Commander Feral is just demanding the return of his niece. They've made no hostile moves against us, yet."

"Unbelievable!" roared Dark Kat. "But wait, what caused that explosion I just felt?"

In his jet, Feral said into his radio, "Attention, Dark Kat! This is Commander Feral of the Enforcers! Release your prisoner at once, or suffer the consequences!"

There was no response. His worst fears were being confirmed. "Feral to all pilots, engage!"

Suddenly a female voice cut in. "Commander Feral, stand down!" Callie Briggs. "This is Acting Mayor Callie Briggs!"

"Back off, Briggs," Feral snarled. Then he realized how she had identified herself. "Wait, what? Where is Manx?"

Callie filled him in. Feral allowed himself a guffaw despite the situation. After he was finished, he turned serious again. "Briggs, let me blast Dark Kat and his ship out of existence! I just know he's murdered Felina already!"

"No, Feral," Callie said, "not while there's a chance the SWAT Kats are still aboard and alive! And if they're still alive, then so is Felina!"

Feral wrestled with himself. He wanted to believe, to hope, Felina was still alive, and that the SWAT Kats, as much as he hated them, could save her, or that she could free herself, one. But the realist in him was certain the SWAT Kats had failed and that his niece was dead.

Hope won out.

"Understood," Feral said, and, then, hurriedly, to his pilots, added, "Abort the attack men. Remain in a holding pattern around the ship until further instructions. Agreed, Mayor?"

Callie seemed to mull it over. "Agreed, Commander."

On the Fear Ship, Dark Kat seethed with rage. It seemed his initial impression, that the SWAT Kats had been responsible for that latest tremor, had been correct. A quick look at the computer terminal in the laboratory showed critical power failings and lava overflower on decks eleven and twelve.

The lava had, so far, been contained, but there was no telling how much more damage those meddling SWAT Kats were going to cause. He turned to Felina Feral, and deactivated the memory-stealing device.

"I'm afraid we must postpone our little session for the time being, Lieutenant. I'm having to reroute the power needed for the memory-drain to other, more important systems."

Curses! He used the computer to send the needed power to the engines to keep the Fear Ship operational, and, when he was done, punched a random control panel, crunching it. Felina sighed with relief, and visibly relaxed. He sneered at her.

"Don't get too cocky, Lieutenant!" he growled. "Once I'm done with the SWAT Kats, I'll be back to finish sucking your pretty little mind dry!"

"I look forward to seeing you try!" Felina hissed, straining at her bonds. "And to ripping out your eyes!"

Dark Kat chuckled. He looked over at Zeckis, who still stood expectantly at the bottom of the steps. Dark Kat grabbed him by the scruff and dragged him over.

"Watch her," he commanded. "Your performance lately has been unsatisfactory. If she escapes, I'll do worse than kill you!"

Zeckis nodded fearfully. "Yes, master!"

Then, whirling, his cloak swishing, Dark Kat bounded powerfully up the stairs, roaring at the top of his lungs, "SWAT Kats! Prepare yourselves! I am coming for you!" 


	15. Letting Feral Know

At the top of the elevator shaft, T-Bone used his Glovatrix's built-in acetylene torch to cut through the closed doors, and then, assisted by Razor, the two of them managed to pry open the doors, grunting and straining. However the doors wouldn't stay opened. Grumbling, T-Bone lay somewhat on his side, using his own body to prop them open, right shoulder against one door and left foot to the other.

"Okay, buddy, climb on up," he said, offering Razor a hand.

Razor clambered over his partner as quickly and as gently as he could, and then turned to assist T-Bone since there was no longer any need for the bigger vigilante to keep holding the door open. As he did so, though, they noticed the loosely dangling elevator cable starting to wiggle, and, looking down, saw three Stalkers beginning to climb up. Far below, they could see lava starting to seep through the door of the level they'd originally come from, pouring down to the bottom of the shaft and covering and melting the crumpled elevator car.

These things just wouldn't give up! T-Bone considered using his torch to cut the cable again, but the Stalkers were clambering up too fast. So instead, just kicked the foremost of the three in the face, trying to dislodge it, but it lashed out with its claws and shredded the right leg of his flight suit.

"Hey!" T-Bone yelled and kicked it again.

The creature just growled and slashed again, but Razor tugged at T-Bone's g-harness and, pushing himself off the door with his other foot, T-Bone was able to get out of the way of the Stalker's claws, which swiped at thin air. Without T-Bone blocking them the doors clanged shut on the Stalker's arm, eliciting a yowl of pain and anger from it. Both SWAT Kats collapsed with relief on the floor and realized they were in an unfamiliar hallway.

"Where are we?" asked T-Bone.

"A few floors above where we should be," Razor said. "We need to get back down to the control room level and find Lieutenant Feral." He narrowed his eyes. "And Dark Kat."

"Not to mention figurin' out a way to bring this thing down without crashin' it into any buildings," T-Bone said as he stood up, glumly examining his shredded trouser leg. "I'd like to avoid adding to our usual repair bill. I figure the less stuff we smash up, the less crap that district attorney guy will have to whine about when we're finally in court."

Razor chuckled. "If we even make it out of here alive."

"Hey, let's keep the doomsaying to a minimum, shall we?" grumbled T-Bone.

Hearing a wrenching noise, they turned and watched as the elevator doors were forced open by clawed fingers and then parted, revealing the angry Stalker T-Bone had kicked. The other two were clambering up the cable behind it.

"Uh-oh!" said T-Bone. "I'm out!" he said, holding up his Glovatrix.

"Allow me," said Razor, and crouched down into a martial arts stance.

With a cry of "Hiiii-yaaa!" he executed a flying kick at the Stalker and kicked it squarely in the throat. Its went flying backwards with a snarl, smacking into the next one on the cable. The collision dislodged the second creature and both it and the one Razor had kicked into it fell down the elevator shaft.

This left the third one, but, even as it lunged at Razor, the doors shut again, closing on its head with a dull thunking noise, stunning it. Its eyes bulged widely and as the doors opened automatically again in response to the obstruction, the dazed Stalker slid back out of sight and plummetted down the shaft towards the lava below after its two companions. The doors slid shut a third and final time. T-Bone ran forwards and used his acetylene torch to weld the doors shut again. He pounded on it with his fist and nodded in satisfaction before retracting the torch.

"Wow, Dark Kat made a huge deal about these things but they suck about as much as the Creeplings do," T-Bone observed of the Stalkers.

"Either that, or I'm just that awesome," Razor said, buffing his claws against the front of his flight suit with a grin. "Now come on, let's get a move on!"

He slapped T-Bone's shoulder and ran off. T-Bone lingered a moment longer to examine the state of his suit; pants leg shredded and overall stained in the blood and guts of the Stalker he'd exploded in the lava room down below. Another outfit ruined. He sighed and then ran after Razor. They tried the first door they came to and found it opened onto a railed-in observation balcony overlooking the main hangar of the airship. Down below, a single Enforcer jet sat with its canopy open, guarded by two Creeplings armed with laser rifles.

Razor attacked swiftly. There was a flight of stairs on the left but descending that way would take too long, so he jumped over the rail and down from the balcony, landing deftly between the two unprepared Creeplings. They both gave a startled cry that sounded vaguely like either a "Huh?" or "Wha?" before Razor grabbed them and banged their heads together with a dull cracking noise. Their laser guns clattered to the floor and their limp pink bodies plopped down alongside them a couple seconds later, completely knocked out.

"Showoff," T-Bone grumbled and hopped down after him.

A third Creepling guard came around the other side of the jet, having been hidden from view by it. With gave a cry of "Blagh!" and loosed a volley of laser fire at the SWAT Kats. Razor rolled out of the way, and then grabbed hold of the jet wing and swung himself underneath the craft to plant both feet in the Creepling's startled face. It flew across the hangar and smacked into the wall, dropping its gun and sliding down to the floor. T-Bone sighed. Defeating the Creeplings, even the armed ones, was easy as long as he and Razor had their hands free, but it was still annoying. Both of them did a quick sweep of the hangar to determine if there were any more, but there weren't.

A few decks below them, Dark Kat held onto the railing as he walked along the catwalk, glowering down in anger at the lake of lava which now filled the entire geothermal power room. Four additional Stalkers, now equipped with laser rifles, goggles and chest straps with beacons like their smaller Creepling counterparts, followed along behind him. The sight of all this wasted lava enraged the cloaked villain, but not as much as when his gaze wandered over to notice that the lava was draining out of the room through the open elevator door at the opposite end of the room!

"Curses!" he growled.

This room was supposed to be sealed off entirely in the event that the lava powering the Fear Ship leaked. The walls, floor and sealing were made of a special melt-proof metal of his own design. So were the doors. But with the elevator doors opened - most likely forced open by either the SWAT Kats or one or more of the pursuing Stalkers, who did have a knack for destruction - the lava took the natural path provided and was flowing freely into the elevator shaft... which wasn't made of melt-proof metal! Now the lava was free to ooze through the entire fear ship and burn its way down through the ship, damaging it in untold ways!

His attack against Megakat City would have to be temporarily postponed until he could get this under control, and either stop or cool off the lava flow, and replace the lava lost from the initial leak, and that would entailing departing the skies over the city and finding somplace to land for repairs! Everything was being set back by hours, if not days! His grip on the rail tightened in fury.

"Those SWAT Kats have set my plans back for the last time!"

Turning, he seized the nearest Stalker by the chest strap and hurled it over the side. The creature was flung down and splashed into the lava beneath them and was incinerated instantly in a jet of flame. Unsurprisingly, this did not alleviate Dark Kat's anger. He turned to the other three, who flinched and backed up from him.

He shoved past them and went back the way they'd come. There was an intercom switch and wall-mounted viewscreen nearby and he pushed a button, bringing up the ship's internal security camera system. He needed to find the SWAT Kats. He wasn't worried about the Enforcer squadron outside, but the two vigilantes inside his ship were a threat he needed to deal with quickly before he could undo the damage they'd wrought.

He hurriedly flipped through the different channels until he came to the one showing the hangar, and there they were! Milling around Felina's captured jet. Would they try and leave in it? No, he decided. No, they'd try and get back to rescue her. But he wasn't going to wait for them to come to him this time. He was tired of being on the defensive. He whirled again to his three remaining Stalkers.

"We must stop them! Come with me!"

Back in the hangar, T-Bone and Razor climbed up onto the Enforcer jet to have a look at it.

"Must be the Lieutenant's," suggested Razor.

"A good guess," said T-Bone.

He held up a small, slightly old polaroid photograph he'd found taped to the control panel. After examining it he gave it to Razor. It was of Felina Feral at her graduation ceremony. With her was a tall, middle-aged cat with a striking simlarity to Commander Feral, who could only be her father. They were both smiling. On the other side of Felina stood Feral himself. He was also smiling. The two were so unused to see the Enforcer commander smile that it honestly weirded them out.

"Jeez," said Razor as he handed the photo back to T-Bone, who returned to where he'd found it. "Feral smiling gives me the willies."

"I know," said T-Bone. "I'm so used to seeing him scowl all the time it just looks wrong on the guy, y'know?"

Razor sat on the wing as T-Bone inspected the controls to see if the aircraft was still capable of flying. He and Razor still had their jetpacks - if they could remember where they'd left them, anyway - but their concern was for Felina. After they rescued her, and they were determined that they would, neither of them was too keen on the idea of carrying a fully-grown Enforcer officer in their arms when they flew out on their jetpacks, and so T-Bone had insisted they make sure Felina's jet was still operational so she could use it to escape, herself.

Razor himself wanted them to use the radio to contact her uncle and let her know they had last seen his niece alive and well. "Everything check out, buddy?" he asked.

"Yep, we're good to go. Or should I say Lieutenant Feral is."

"Great. Here, gimme the radio."

T-Bone nodded and gave the receiver to Razor; better to let him make the call to Feral. T-Bone knew himself - and Feral - all too well to know that even delivering the good knews that Felina was alive would result in an argument somehow. Of course, Feral still might do that even with Razor, but there was less chance of that with the smaller, more easygoing SWAT Kat. T-Bone knew that much, crossing his arms and sighing as he reflected on his own bitter temper, which made him more like Feral than he would ever admit.

"This is Razor of the SWAT Kats calling any Enforcers on this frequency," Razor spoke into the radio. "If anyone is listening, please respond. We're aboard Dark Kat's ship, repeat, aboard Dark Kat's ship and we've found Lieutenant Feral."

He suddenly realized it was possible something on the Fear Ship could be jamming outgoing transmissions, or incoming ones, or both, and that this was a waste of precious time. Fortunately a moment later the radio crackled to life and the blustery voice of their favorite big-chinned Enforcer commander came forth.

"This is Commander Feral! I read you, Razor, loud and clear!" It was difficult to gauge Feral's mood from his voice. Even when he was happy the guy sounded angry.

"I never thought I'd say this, but good to hear from you, Commander!" Razor said with a grin.

Beside him, T-Bone rolled his eyes.

"What are you two doing in Lieutenant Feral's jet?" the commanding Commander's voice demanded. Typical Feral. "And where is she? You said you'd found her. Why aren't I speaking to her?"

T-Bone grumbled and grabbed the receiver away from Razor before his partner could stop him, and responded to Feral himself. Razor looked horrified but T-Bone gave him a reassuring smile. He was intent on proving, to himself if no one else, he could hold his temper with Feral for once.

"T-Bone here, Commander. To answer those questions out of order there, Feral, uh, she's being held in a laboratory of some kind, but she's alive, or was when we saw her last. And the reason you're talking to me instead of her is because Dark Kat has some kind of lame-brain new monsters fresh out of his Easy Bake Oven of evil, but they're just big, dumber versions of Creeplings. He sicced 'em on us and we had to bug out."

Razor palmed his face. There we better, more reassuring ways to tell someone these things. Diplomatic T-Bone was not.

"Oh!" said T-Bone. "And, uh, we found her jet here in the ship's hangar."

"What?" cried Feral. T-Bone winced. "You just left my niece at the mercy of that insane fiend Dark Kat? All because of some oversized Creeplings?"

T-Bone's experiment was about to fail, and miserably. Razor acted quickly. Even as his partner was starting to open his mouth to unleash is inevitable smartass reply which would turn this into a full-fledged shouting match between him and Feral, Razor snatched the radio back.

"Hey!" cried T-Bone in protest.

"Don't overdo it," chided Razor, who'd surmised what T-Bone had been attempting to do and failing at. Now he took over and tried to calm Feral down. Into the radio, he said, "Sorry about that, Feral. T-Bone's still workin' on his people skills."

T-Bone growled and made a show of shaking his fist at him. Razor ignored him.

"Anyway like he said we were attacked by Dark Kat's latest creations, some kind of monsters he calls 'Stalkers.' Like T-Bone said, they don't really amount to much, despite the big deal tall, dark and ugly made over 'em, but we didn't know that at the time and they outnumbered us, so we had to bug out, or risk getting killed. But we're going back. We just thought you'd like an update on what's been going on in here."

There was silence for a moment and then they heard Feral sigh. "Fine," he said. "And I'll give you an update on what's happening out here. My Enforcers and I are in a holding pattern near the ship, which appears to be moving away from the city for some reason. We're going to follow it. I'd love to pummel the crud out of it until it crashed and exploded into scrap metal, except Felina is still on board. Oh, and you two, of course."

"Thanks for keeping us in mind," grumbled T-Bone quietly. Feral didn't hear him.

"A good choice," said Razor. "After we've found the Lieutenant and gotten her and ourselves to safety, though, Feral, you guys are welcome to use this ugly thing for target practice. You need it." He couldn't resist this jab at Feral.

Feral either didn't notice or didn't care about the insult. Instead, he said, "Besides, your precious Miss Briggs has given us orders to stand down until all friendlies are clear of Dark Kat's ship."

This surprised them. Why would Feral be taking orders from Callie? As far as either of them could remember, the Enforcer commander was only supposed to take direct orders from the mayor. Certain corrupt past commanders and evil former deputy mayors notwithstanding. Where was Manx in all of this? Razor asked as much.

"What? Briggs? Where's Manx?"

"It aappears as if our illustrious Mayor Manx has eloped with his golf bag, according to Miss Briggs," replied Feral.

"He what?" cried T-Bone so loud Feral heard him.

"He grabbed his golf bag and ran at the first sight of Dark Kat's holographic transmission and was last seen making a beeline for the city limits in his big stupid gas-guzzling limo," Feral clarified. "Briggs says he effectively gave up his position of mayor and I'm inclined to agree with her."

"That makes her..." Razor trailed off.

"Acting mayor for the time being," said Feral. "So it's her show from now until Manx comes back. Which will probably be never. I doubt that coward will ever show himself in Megakat City ever again."

Razor shook his head. It seemed that while he and T-Bone were galavanting around inside of Dark Kat's ship, big things were happening in Megakat City's leadership as a result of their longtime enemy's latest attempt at a hostile takeover. Razor was disappointed. Manx had always been a selfish, greedy coward, but he has a certain grandfatherly quality to him. It pained him to learn that the Mayor he'd risked his life for countless times had repaid his loyalty - and T-Bone's, Callie's and even Feral's - by running away. But they could worry about him later.

Now all that mattered were their immediate problems: Dark Kat and Felina. And it seemed the Fear Ship was for whatever reason beginning to move away from Megakat City, which meant it would soon be a safe enough distance away for them to destroy it without endangering any innocent civilians.

"Well, like I said, Feral, we're gonna go get your niece back for you. We'll even try to help Dark Kat on his way out of the city." Razor figured it was veering off due to the damage T-Bone had wrought down in the power room. "And then, once we're off and it's safely away from the city, you and your guys can blast this thing down to molten slag. Sound good?"

"Sounds great. Good luck, you two. Feral out."

Razor tossed the radio back to T-Bone, who hung it up. "Okay, buddy, now let's go find Dark Kat and kick his big purple butt, and get Lieutenant Feral."

"I'll save you the trouble," a deep, booming voice came from above them.

They turned, and saw Dark Kat standing on one of the hangar's upper levels, three Stalkers standing behind him, each holding a laser rifle. His armes were crossed and he was glowering angrily down at them.

"Aw, crud," said T-Bone.

Dark Kat did as they had, literally stepping off the platform and leaping down into a crouching position down on one knee. When he landed, his foot and knee made dents in the metal deck plates and the entire hangar seemed to shake. If nothing else, the Enforcer jet rattled slightly. The SWAT Kats gulped. Slowly, Dark Kat rose, his eyes glowing red with burning fury from beneath the shadow of his hood.

"You two have meddled in my plans for the last time," he said. It was not his typical bombastic villainous threat. There was an icy chill to his voice this time. He meant it. "Even if I have to die to do it, I'm going to rid myself of you two once and for all time. Personally."

Meanwhile, back in the alchemical laboratory, Felina Feral was still lying strapped into the memory draining machine. She sighed, annoyed. Dark Kat was going but with her restrained like this, she couldn't use this opportunity to escape, and it was driving her insane. Her "guard" had left a minute ago when some alarms began going off, mumbling something about needing to realign the ship.

Felina's anger was increased by the fact she knew that even now, Dark Kat might be doing exactly as he'd threatened, and was fighting the SWAT Kats... and she wasn't there to help! She growled and once again made useless tugs at her bonds. She hated being helpless like this so much that she struggled even though she knew deep down it was useless. How was she going to get out? She quit struggling for a moment thought. She had to use her brain on this one, since brute strength, or "the T-Bone approach," as she called it, wasn't working. It dawned on her that only someone else could free her. But who?

She heard footsteps and the gray-haired technician, whose name she remembered was Zeckis, came down the stairs. Him? Her hatred of feeling helpless meant she dislike having to rely on others, especially an enemy. Heck, she even found the idea of the SWAT Kats rescuing her distasteful, and they were her friends. But unlike her uncle she was more of a realist, and could swallow her pride. She was no fool. She needed someone else's help, and with the SWAT Kats not likely to get back anytime soon, there was only Zeckis.

"Hey," she said to him. For the moment he didn't seem to hear her. He was muttering to himself and looked worried. Apparently the situation in the control room wasn't good. "Hey!" she said, louder. This time he heard her and looked over. "Listen, get me out of here!"

He blinked, then turned away from her, going over to a control panel and pretending to act busy. It was obvious to her he was trying to ignore her.

"Hey! Listen to me!" she growled angrily.

"Don't talk to me!" he said, flinching. She could sense his fear of his master in him. She suddenly pitied him. So she tried a different approach.

"Why do you do what he says?" she asked, her voice softer.

"Huh?" Zeckis said, and turned around. "What are you talking about?"

"I said, why are you working for Dark Kat?"

He sighed and turned from her again, resuming his attempt to act busy. "Money," he said. "He promised us money."

At the "us" he suddenly looked queasy, and Felina remembered how Dark Kat had burned the other one with him to ashes. Seizing on this, she pressed Zeckis further.

"Don't you remember what he did to your friend, for disappointing him?" she asked. "When the SWAT Kats get here and let me go, what do you think is going to happen to you?"

Zeckis spun around, looking angry. "And what do you think he'll do to me if I help you get away?" he demanded.

Felina smiled disarmingly. "Then it seems to me you're in a lose-lose situation, Mister... Zeckis, wasn't it? But if I were in your position, I'd want to throw in with the person who won't kill me for sneezing the wrong way." She allowed a moment to let that sink in. "So if you help me get away, I promise you nothing bad will happen to you."

He stood there for what seemed like forever, wringing his hands. Occasionally he'd glance up at the stairs as though fearful Dark Kat would return and catch him in this act of betrayal. But when no one appeared, he finally slumped his shoulders and gave a deep, resigned sigh.

"All right," he said uncertainly. "I'll... I'll let you go."

He removed the memory-sucking helmet from off her head, and then began to hurriedly unstrap her. As soon as Felina was free, she seized him by the collar and held onto him as she got down off the table.

"Hey, take it easy!" Zeckis said. "I'm helping you!"

"I know, and you're going to keep on doing it," she said threateningly. He shuddered and she felt bad for him again, but she had to be forceful with him.

She let him go. Grabbing a large, heavy spanner that was leaning against the far wall, she hefted it like a baseball bat, and took it to the various pieces of equipment in the lab, arcane and advanced alike, in particular bashing the memory machine into microchips. She put every once of her rage against Dark Kat into each swing, and didn't stop until the machine no longer even resembled its original form. She would've kicked the table over if it weren't bolted to the floor.

"What are you-" Zeckis began.

"I'm taking care of Dark Kat's little science project!" she declared.

Now it was time for "the T-Bone approach!" Whirling, she then swung the spanner at the center growth cylinder from which the first Stalker had emerged. It and the other cylinders were empty. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces and sparks flew everywhere. Zeckis flinched but made no move to stop her. Felina repeated this process for the others until each one was smashed to bits and useless for growing any more of the outsized Creeplings. For a moment she stood there, panting, but after a moment she recovered, satisfied that Dark Kat's lab was a total shambles. Still holding the wrench, she turned to Zeckis.

"We've got to find the SWAT Kats."

Zeckis led the way up the stairs and into the empty control room. He showed her how to use the closed circuit TV camera systerm, and she used it to click through various views of the ship until she came to the hangar. The first thing she noticed was her jet, still intact. Then she saw T-Bone and Razor sitting on it. Razor was on the wing, T-Bone in the cockpit. She was overjoyed and almost switched on the intercom to talk to them when a third figure walked into view. Dark Kat. He was down there with them.

"Well, guys, it looks like I'll be saving you instead of the other way around," she observed wryly. "But first..." She turned to Zeckis. "Where are the flight controls?"

Zeckis pointed them out to her, the middle console, with numerous switches and toggles and a large driving mechanism. The chair was unoccupied.

"How long can this thing stay in the air with the main controls destroyed?" Felina asked.

Zeckis seemed confused by the question answered it anyway. "Uh, well, as long as it has fuel or doesn't hit anything. Destroying the main flight controls will just make the Fear Ship fly directly ahead in a straight line, unable to gain altitude or land."

She swung the huge wrench and smashed it repeatedly against the controls, sending sparks flying everywhere. Once more, Zeckis winced but didn't dare protest. Felina kept at it, determined she was going to leave Dark Kat with nothing, absolutely nothing. Once she'd effectively rendered the Fear Ship unfliable, leaving the flight control panel a smoking wreck, she tossed the spanner aside with a loud clang, smiled and turned to the startled-looking Zeckis.

"Now, what say we go help the SWAT Kats and then get off of this oversized hunk of junk?" she asked. "Where do you keep the guns?" 


End file.
